Welcome to advertising in the consumer conversation age. This ad isn't Ad of the Week because it's stellar creative. It's featured because of what it represents in this new digital world where consumers have a say in your brand's story. I saw the :30 TV spot, titled The Pizza Turnaround, over the weekend and immediately said to myself, "you wouldn't have seen an ad like that a few years ago."
These days, brands have to pay attention to what consumers are saying online, in chats, in comment boards, on social networks, in blogs and so on and so on. And you need to be able to add to the conversation and adapt to whatever feedback you're getting. Domino's has long had a reputation as a "cheap, fast" pizza. We've all heard someone say bad things about their pizza. Well, Domino's did too. And they did something about it. They changed their product and then they put all the bad feedback right out there for everyone to see. You might think that's a bold move for a brand. It is in the old way of thinking. But, as we've already noted, the criticism's not something we didn't already know about.
Posted below is the long web format version. It opens up by showing comments on a computer screen from consumers that read things like "mass produced, boring, bland pizza," "wet and flavorless" and "microwave pizza is far superior." Bravo to Domino's for listening, participating, doing something about it and being transparent in the process. To take their brand to the next level, they really didn't have any other choice. But, that still doesn't make it an easy thing to do. Check it out for yourself below or visit their website dedicated to the processwww.pizzaturnaround.com
Domino's Pizza "The Pizza Turnaround"
Got a suggestion for Ad of the Week? Leave your comment here, send us an email atfans@yaffe.com, send us a tweet or post on our Facebook page.
It's a question asked more and more. Businesses and individuals are putting more time into blogs, podcasts and other digital media. And they want to know how this is going to make them money. You know it's something you should be doing in this digital age, but you wonder just how are you going to monetize it.
The short answer: you don't. At least not in the traditional media/marketing model. Sure you can add Google Ad Words to your blog and when you get big enough, have sponsors and paid ads on your digital material. But that's not going to get you the value you put into your company's blog or podcasts. The real value is in increasing your company's and your personal standing as an expert - the kind of people that other companies want to do business with.
In his book,Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch Joel says, "Anyone who creates content is creating media. That is the advertising. Everyone keeps searching for the ad model in blogs and podcasts, not realizing that the content and the individual producing it are the media. People see you as an expert and want to work with that expert."
That's the point. How you monetized your digital content is through the business that results from people knowing you, your expertise and wanting to work with you as a result. There are countless examples of companies getting business through this method. We ourselves had two potential clients call us wanting to know more after listening to a recentpodcastby the head of Yaffe Direct, Michael Morin.
You don't ignore ROI. To the contrary, you need to think about it - a lot. You just need to look at it differently. In her blog post"10 Crucial Roles of a Social Media Director" Liz Strauss puts "be about ROI" fourth on her list. She goes on to say, "ROI is so important. If we don’t sell things, no one has a job. For years, we’ve known the value of conferences and trade shows, yet no one knows exactly how to measure their return. I’m thinking a certain similarity applies."
The long and short of it is this: you need to be out there in the digital space building your expertise. You just need to look at the value of doing it differently. What do you think? Have a success story of your own? I'd love to hear it.
We hope today (Christmas Day) and every day finds you feeling happiness, peace and fulfillment. We look forward to the New Year and hope yours is both spectacular and prosperous! Here's wishes from some of the Yaffe Group people:
Wishes that the good tidings and warmth of the holiday season be yours throughout the year. - Susie
Season’s Greetings Friends! May you have a spectacular New
Year! - Love, Lauren
May the holidays find you filled with joy and may the coming year be filled with wonder - Mike
Merry Christmas to all and the best and brightest of New Year's. And Remember..only 52 days to Daytona!! - Sheila
To our retail clients, a traditional retailer toast: “Merry Christmas and to the best New Year’s
Sale ever!” - Michael
Wishing for everyone, DAYS FULL OF PRAISE AND PEACE, GOOD WILL ON
EARTH; throughout the New Year. - Leslie
Peace and prosperity for all the
Christmases to come - Jane
Happy Holidays. Here's to the good times we've had and the better times ahead. - Fred
And from the rest of the Yaffe elves, all hard at work making the "toys" to make it a happy new year for all our clients: Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!
AdFreak came out with their 30 Freakiest Ads of the Year and there's some pretty bizarre stuff on there. Including some mildly disturbing ads and some down-right creepy ones. You can see all of them by going to the link above. One of our particular favorites was the "Roller Babies" ad by Evian. It has a whole bunch of CG going on, with babies doing all kinds of roller skating tricks on the playground. I know, we already had the eTrade baby spots as an Ad of the Week (we like eTrade's babies better) - so I guess we must have a thing for freaky babies. Enjoy.
Evian "Roller Babies" - No. 14 on AdFreak's freakiest ads of the year.
Online content created by consumers isn't just bad home movies any more. With the availability of great, easy-to-use tools, the consumer has upped their game beyond the "Funniest Home Videos" realm. And with that, expectations have rose, as well. There are amazing photos, videos, programs, apps, stories and more being posted by talented everyday people. This is good for everybody, especially marketers who want to tap into these talents.
When we created our first online videos, a lot of people were concerned that we not make them look too good. Look at what's popular on YouTube, they said, the consumer responds well to the authenticity of the lower production values. Well, as it turns out, they were responding to the authenticity of the people and what they had to say, not of the low quality methods. Seems high production values work just fine if you have real people telling compelling stories.
How marketers use consumer content has changed as well. It's gone from finding content and using it to sponsoring the next generation (Stride gum/Where's Matt?) to creating contests where quality content is created for the brand by consumers (Doritoes Super Bowl ad) to collecting stories and helping the consumer tell it (see below).
A good example of this last methodology is a series of videos we shot for Covenant Health System in Lubbock, Texas. Each features a very real, very compelling story told by the person it happened to. The laughter is real. And so are the tears. Even though the films were shot and edited by us, this is still consumer generated content - it's real people sitting on a couch in front of a camera telling their stories, without scripting or special effects. Yaffe/Deutser also created a special website, www.covenantstories.com to showcase the videos. Then, on the official Covenant site, we have a link for more people to submit their stories that could be used in the next round of videos.
How do you see consumer generated content evolving? Are you using it for your brand or your client's brands? It will be interesting to see where this trend goes next.
This is my favorite holiday ad this year! Not schmaltzy like so many of them, doesn't fall back on old cliches. In fact, it's a completely bizarre grouping of non-related things, not really tied into a holiday theme except, the rewriting of the words to a classic Christmas song. They did a great job with the same basic premise for last year's spot - only this one is waaaay out there.
Would love to have been in the room when they pitched this one. "We open up on a knight in full armor and pull out to reveal he's in a beat up old station wagon with his knight gear strapped to the roof going in city highway traffic. Then we cut to a leprechaun running in the rain, he's in a triathlon. Which of course segues into a Yeti creeping through the woods holding a big teddy bear, stalking a camper. But, wait it gets better... we cut to grizzled, fat Scottish golfer in full kilt. As we follow the golf ball to the whole, it goes by a tiny squirrel playing a tiny mandolin. See how we did that, came full circle back to the era of the knight? What do you think, JB?"
And yet, it all ties into the product benefits. These guys are my heroes. Here's the spot:
Garmin 2009 Holiday Ad: Squirrel
If you'd like to submit an ad or web video for ad of the week, leave a comment here, send us an email at fans@yaffe.com, post it on ourFacebook pageor send us atweet.
Moms are not what they used to be. They aren’t like those old-fashioned mothers portrayed on TV, where they had all the time in the world to stay at home and take care of the family. Nowadays, women want to have families, but they also want careers, social lives, hobbies, and more. Not only are women busier, more stressed, and unhappier than ever, more and more women are doing it all on their own, without a spouse or partner. Generation X and millennial mothers are substantially different from their predecessors. Having seen the women before them exhaust themselves trying to achieve the cookie-cutter ideal, these new moms are trying to "have it all" without actually doing it all.
Marissa Miley and Ann Mack report in an Advertising Age White Paper how these real moms are on the rise. As marketers we need to make things easier for them. They don’t have enough time in the day to take care of all that they need to, so imagine how little patience they have for shopping. They want to be in and out of a store and on to the next errand. We need to engage them fast, and offer them something worth their time. And right now during this tough economic time we need to demonstrate value as well (cheap can be chic).
Moms want products that will help them manage their lives, lessen the stress, and give them more time to focus on the important things like their kids. Moms want products and services that provide value to their families. Because moms really want to find value in what they are purchasing, they are weighing price with the benefits of the product. Price alone is still important though; these moms are buying based on sales and coupons. Some buy in bulk to lower cost and others comparison shop until they find the best deals. But a lesson to retailers - if you are going to sell something inexpensive to these mothers, it better be a quality product; they can’t be fooled.
Women do most of the shopping. They spend $4.3 trillion of the $5.9 trillion in U.S. consumer spending, and yet most women feel as though advertisers are not communicating with them. The problem advertisers are facing now is that these real moms don’t have the time to pay attention to ads, and over time, it will only become increasingly difficult to reach these women. Advertisers need to use media that is especially convenient for the multi-tasker. The content must be engaging and it must fit into their busy lives. What we are seeing now is a layering of media, so one way or another we can capture audience. Bravo is encouraging viewers to multi-task while watching, either by blogging, e-mailing, or texting about Bravo. They would rather have them looking at their screen than doing anything else.
Marketers need to remember that these busy mothers are not like they used to be, in real life or on TV. Moms do a lot of shopping, and if you communicate with them effectively, they just might buy from you.
This white paper is a great guide map that all marketers should take to heart.
Mad Men, the popular ad agency show on AMC, takes place during the golden age of advertising creativity. TV was a fairly new medium, but people had worked with it enough to start doing some pretty creative things using the new nuances of picture and sound. Ad men with names like Bernett, Ogilvy and Bernbach were changing the world. Those times are long gone, but are we entering a new area of unprecedented creativity? I think so.
This new age of creativity is set in motion by two major factors. Again, we have a new medium that has been around long enough for people to start figuring it out - the Internet. And that new medium has spawned all sorts of new channels, including online video, social media, mobile, search and much more. Now add to that an era where the customer is more in control of things than they've ever been. It's no longer good enough to shout your message to a massive crowd. You have to craft your message into something interesting or engaging or useful. That takes more creative thinking - from more departments than just the one labeled "creative."
To play in this new pool and to engage on a more one-to-one manner requires creativity in all facets of your business plan. Your strategic thinkers need to be creative in their strategies. The media planning and buying needs to be creative. The thinking that goes into how your product interacts with the consumer at all touch points needs to be creative. And, of course, the messaging itself needs to be creative.
This all requires a lot more thought than before. It's not like there weren't professionals putting a lot of thought into your brand and it's marketing before. But, branding and marketing today requires a lot more innovative thinking. It's why even a smaller firm like us is going to market differently. For instance, the firm that is our Houston office, Yaffe/Deutser, actually does very little traditional advertising and marketing. They do a lot more consulting in areas where they can help companies think differently - in research, company culture analysis, how they deal with employees and their various constituencies, brand management and a whole host of other things that weren't being done by companies like us just 6 or 7 years ago.
For a creative person like myself, it's a great time. In a previous blog post, I already talked about how now is a good time to get back into radio, if you're willing to do something creative. Now, we're looking at all kinds of new possibilities. Instead of just thinking about how the TV ad will drive sales or promote a products USP, we get to think about how to engage people. Our direct marketing division, Yaffe Direct, has found that emails with a video component increase engagement, add over a minute of time spent on our message by the consumer and lift sales by 34%. So, instead of just concentrating on a sale designed to bring in a customer this weekend, we can create more interesting and engaging web videos like this:
RoomPlace Cinco de Mayo Web Video
So, what do you think? Are we really entering the next golden age of creativity? And is it one that crosses over many departmental lines? Who's with me?
Mike McClure, Executive Creative Director and Social Media Guy
Yesterday was aids awareness day. In honor of that, we'd like to make the (Red) campaign our ad of the week. It's good work for a good cause. In the campaign there are ads on general awarness and then there are coroporate partner ads, touting what you can do with their products to support this cause. It's a good, well orgainized cause-related marketing effort. Both are nicely done.
