Tag: Branding

11 Essential Truths About Great Advertising.

Advertising is typically thought of as a creative endeavor. More Art Garfunkel than science. But here are 11 simple truths about making great and effective advertising that every marketer, businessperson and communications professional should know. At The Weaponry, these truths drive everything we do. Here they are in a particular order.

11 Truths About Great Advertising.

1. It stems from great strategy: All great advertising and marketing begins with a great strategy. You have to know how you win. You need to know which of your advantages to leverage. You need to know who your audience is. And what they need to hear from you in order to give you their money, their vote, or their blood.

2. It differentiates. Great advertising sets you apart from the crowd. You are no longer a commodity. You are special. Like that little girl from The Help. This is the power we build into strong brands. It makes you irreplaceable. You want to be seen as a special exception. Be the option that sparkles and calls your customer’s name. They have to think, This is the brand that gets me.

3. You haven’t seen or heard it before. Great advertising feels new. It tickles a part of the brain that has never been tickled before. It offers phrases, imagery, design, or attitude that you have never encountered before. Which helps your advertising land in a new place on the perceptual map. Like new art. Or Chipotle. Which is why so many new food concepts are now described as the Chipotle of their cuisine type. You also know that Chipotle has built a strong brand because when people tell you they are going to grab Chipotle, you don’t imagine them grabbing a smoke-dried jalapeno.

4. You have to earn a longer leash to create it. Great advertising often represents a perceived risk. Because it feels different than what you’ve seen from the brand or the category before. Which means that the client-approver needs to trust the creators. The client approvers must trust that the creators have their best interest at heart. They must trust that this is a smart and calculated departure from the past, or from a norm. (Norm!!!) They must trust that you know what you are doing. This type of trust, which I call earning rope, or earning leash, takes time. Sometimes this is earned through a handful of interactions, like during the new business pitch process. Sometimes this is earned over years of working together. But without first earning trust, advertisers are less likely to jump the gap with you. (Which has nothing to do with mugging people at The Gap. Or minding the gap. Or Michael Strahan.)

5. It avoids layers of approval. Great advertising doesn’t get approved by an army of approvers. The more approvers that are involved, the more likely the work gets pushed right back to the center of the expected range from your category. The people who will be approving the great work should all be in the room or on the Zoom when the great work is presented. They should be exposed to the strategic thinking and the insights that birthed the idea. And they should be able to compare the work in question to the other ideas presented and their relative merits. (Not the merits of their relatives.)

6. It can not be evaluated devoid of the strategy. To judge great creative work you need to know the strategy. This is critical. If you don’t know the strategy the work can’t be right and it can’t be wrong. The strategy represents the aim of the work. Without knowing the aim, you can’t know if it hit the target. Armchair quarterbacks don’t know what the insiders know. You have to know the insider information to judge the idea and the execution.

7. A great idea gets better partners than your budget deserves. Creative people love creative ideas. They are more interested in bringing a creative idea to life than making money. Which means they will often slash their rates or even do work for free to be involved in great creative work that they can add to their portfolio, reel, or website. As a result, a great creative idea attracts talent and resources beyond what you can afford. So great ideas often get favorable treatment and privileges that ordinary work does not. In turn, it gets even greater at each step in the process.

8. You have to sweat the details. To make great advertising, you have to start with a great idea. But then you have to pay attention to all of the details throughout the process. You have to set high standards for every aspect of the work, and then be vigilant, and critical, to ensure that every element is done right. The words, colors, imagery, size of everything, performances, sound, casting, announcer, kerning, leading editing, graphics, photography, and retouching all have to be right. A flaw in any of those areas can ruin the whole thing. Like the pea under the mattress, the fly in the soup, or the toothy grin on Mona Lisa.

9. It causes envy. Great work may seem subjective. And in some ways it is. Supreme Court Justice Potter Steward once remarked that hardcore pornography may be hard to define, but “I know it when I see it.’ The same holds true for great advertising. The measure I always use is that it creates envy. When I see great advertising, I wish I had created it. I wish I had it in more portfolio. I wish I could brag about it. In fact, when I am hiring creative talent that is my requirement. The candidate must have work in their portfolio that makes me jealous. That’s what great advertising does. And indeed, great work of any type should create envy. (Side note: Don’t you wonder just how much hardcore porn Justice Steward has seen?)

10. It drives results. Great advertising can’t be great without driving results. Results don’t just mean sales. Because there are other factors that advertising can’t overcome that impact a final sale. But great advertising must drive interest, or engagement, inquiries, calls, store visits, website traffic, leads, votes or whatever it was intended to do. Ultimately, this is the measure that trumps everything else. (That was not a political sentence.) Agencies and marketers alike win when the work works.

11. It makes people look forward to your next idea. Great advertising flips the dynamics in the favor of the advertiser. The audience no longer sees you as an interrupter. They see you as interesting, entertaining, smart, or funny. They see you as adding value to their lives. And when you do that, the world looks forward to what you do next. They want to know what great idea you will share next. Whether it’s your funny Super Bowl commercials, your engaging content, your frame-worthy print ads, your stunning billboards, or your crazy stunts, great advertising means you are no longer interrupting. You are anticipated. You are sought out. This is the ultimate benefit of great advertising. The gatekeeper is keeping an eye out for you. And when you appear, they invite you to cut the line and make your way inside.

Key Takeaway

Great advertising is fundamentally different than technically sound advertising. It is created differently. It is approved differently. It triggers a different and more valuable response from your audience. Great advertising offers tremendous value and creates advantages that help you win your unfair share of the pie. If your advertising is not great, revisit this list to understand why and where it may have gone wrong. Then fix it. You always have the ability to get it right.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

What kind of reputation are you building?

Earlier this month I was in Orlando for a speaking engagement. I was invited to talk to an organization about branding and customer experience. The two are inextricably linked. Like flotsam and jetsam, dilly and dally, or Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Because we were in Orlando, and nearly everyone flew in for the meeting, I used airlines to illustrate an important point about customer experience. I said that every employee who works for an airline has the ability to impact the customer experience. And like blood types, the impact could be either positive or negative.

Then I asked the audience if they could name an airline that offers a bad customer experience. Immediately, a chorus of brand names was shouted out from across the large hotel conference room. Clearly, there were a lot of people in the room who had negative customer experiences while flying.

However, this wasn’t a condemnation of the airline industry. Because everyone in the room who spoke up shouted the same name. This specific airline was called out as the airline with the bad customer experience. Like The Ohio State University.

In the minds of these customers, this airline brand was synonymous with bad customer experience. And by the number of witnesses who testified against them, the airline in question had clearly earned that brand reputation over and over and over again.

The important reminder.

Every interaction you have contributes to the brand reputation of the organization you represent. This is true whether you are the CEO, a front-line worker, the newest employee, or a volunteer. You are creating the brand and the customer experience through the experience you offer to those with whom you interact.

You also have a personal brand. Your brand is one of your greatest assets or your greatest liabilities. And while Joan Jett doesn’t give a damn ’bout her reputation, you should. And you should remember that it is created by each interaction you have with other people.

Key Takeaway

You earn your brand reputation every day. Consider the experience you are offering those you interact with. A positive experience enhances both your personal brand and the brand of the company or organization you represent. It is true when you are reliable, helpful, funny and kind. And it is true when you are unreliable, unresponsive, and rude. So choose to be great to others. You’ll earn the best reputation you could ever want.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why our football team rebranded the water boy this season.

There is a boy on the 7th-grade football team I coach named Josh. He’s a good athlete. He can run the ball well, he’s a strong receiver, and he’s a great defender. He plays both running back and linebacker. And he is one of the most energetic and enthusiastic kids on the team. And I have a special affinity for energetic and enthusiastic types.

While Josh has a broad range of valuable football-related skills, one thing he doesn’t do very well is ride a bike. And unfortunately at the beginning of the season, Josh fell off his bike and broke his arm. Boo. He has been in a light blue cast, that extends to his upper arm since the second week of the season. I expect he inherited this biking inability from his father, Mike, whom I have known since we were athletes at the University of Wisconsin.

Despite the broken wing, Josh and his positive attitude come to practice every day. He helps the coaches run drills. He plays practice quarterback and hands off the ball for running back drills with his good arm. He cheers. He encourages. He laughs at my jokes. He has all the valuable intangibles.

On Saturdays during our games, Josh is in charge of the water. On most teams, this role is called the waterboy. But I never liked that term. It has always felt diminutive, even before Adam Sandler and Fonzy’s hilarious hit movie Waterboy. (You can do it!)

The role of keeping our players hydrated during games is extremely important. And Josh approaches the role with such enthusiasm that I felt we needed to rename the position.

So on game days, we don’t call Josh the waterboy. We call him Aquaman.

The name is fun. It feels as important as the job really is. Just like the superhero Aquaman, Josh and his bottles of magic liquid have special powers that are used for good. Those bottles of water that Josh brings to his teammates on the field and on the sideline help the players in their moments of greatest need. In fact, there are many times during a game when the players need Aquaman more than they need the coaches. (Don’t tell Josh I said that, or he may get a big head and his bike helmet will no longer fit. And he needs that helmet.)

Key Takeaway

Names matter. They affect the way you think. They affect the way you feel. If you want more out of a role, consider the title you use for it. If you want people to love your product, service, process or place, carefully consider the name you give it. Perception is reality. And a more attractive name creates a more attractive brand. And better brands get better results.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How a strong brand voice helps you stand out from the crowd.

I love the song We Are The World. It was one of the biggest hits of my early childhood. It is up there with other timeless classics like Karma Chameleon, Rhinestone Cowboy, and Pac-Man Fever.

We Are The World, was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy (Don’t-Call-Me-Adams) Jones. The song features 50 of the biggest musical acts of the 1980s, plus Dan Akroyd.

The iconic song was recorded after the 1985 American Music Awards show and was released by the supergroup USA for Africa. It is catchy, beautiful and poignant. It tells listeners that it’s time to help aid the people of Africa who were suffering from devastating food shortages because of famine. I’m guessing it’s one of the most uplifting songs about starving ever recorded.

Listening Now

When I hear the song today, the thing that stands out is that I can instantly recognize each of the singers’ voices. Despite the fact that there are 21 soloists in the song. And each of them only sings a line or two. So why is it that nearly 40 years after the song was released I can still identify each voice?

Different is Better Than Better

Because each singer’s voice is unique. They all sound distinctly different. When you listen to the song you realize that one reason these singers became popular is that they have their own unique sound. Which makes them special and easily identifiable, even when they aren’t wearing their signature glove.

Developing Your Voice

If you have a business or work in marketing or advertising, you have to think about developing your unique brand voice. It is how you get recognized and remembered. It is how the Search & Rescue team spots you in the Sea of Sameness. You need to position your brand as different from everyone else. Unless you are a counterfeit brand. If that’s the case you should study every move your model brand makes. And every breath that your model brand takes. I’ll be watching you.

Study To Stand Out

Know what others in your category do and say. But then either do or say different things, or do and say the same things differently. And say, say, say what you want. That’s how you stand out. Like Paul McCartney and MJ.

Your Personal Brand

If you have a personal brand, and we all do, think about developing and nurturing your own unique style. This could be your own unique way of talking, walking, acting, or dressing. You can distinguish yourself with all of those things or anything else that feels unique and interesting to you.

Through my blog posts and books, I have developed my own writing style. Which is typically laced with pop culture references and random things I think are funny. Like the bones in my elbows.

My personal goal is to help everyone who reads my writings learn a little, laugh a little and lift a little. (Lift as in spirits, not dumbells.) I believe this is why I receive so many requests for speaking engagements. (But it could just be that other speakers are unavailable.)

Through the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, I help brands create their own unique voice every day. I highly encourage you to find your way of standing apart from the crowd. Positive differentiation will ensure that more great opportunities find you simply because you own a distinct space in the minds of the opportunity holders. And that is a valuable place to be.

Key Takeaway

Discover and develop your unique brand voice. This is true whether you have a business brand to nurture or a personal brand to perfect. Stand apart from the crowd to get noticed. And people will be much more likely to recruit you to be part of their supergroup.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The best thing about our new stickers is hidden on the back.

There are some business secrets they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School. Like the fact that every great business needs a great sticker. The Weaponry, my advertising and idea agency, now has a great sticker. It comes from Sticker Robot.  Which I think is where The Jetsons and R2-D2 get their sticker supplies.

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Sticker Robot makes the best silkscreened stickers in the business. But if you want some for your business you should order them the same day you establish your legal business entity. Because they take a loooong time to produce. We ordered ours back in November.  They finally arrived on January 16th.

A video on how Sticker Robot make their world-famous stickers.

The Modern Branding Iron.

The whole concept of branding originated from ranchers who branded their livestock with a hot iron to identify their little dogies. Today I find very few people who will let me sear them with a red-hot iron. So we use these 2.5 inch X 2.5 inch vinyl stickers instead. I have already placed one on my computer, my Yeti tumbler, my car and all three of my children.

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We ordered 1000 stickers and got 500 free.

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I’ll tumbler for you.

Check out that backside… (It’s stickerlicious!)

But what I really love about them is their backside. Sticker Robot allows you to print a message or design on the back of the sticker. So we added some of our philosophy. And some of our philosophy about our philosophy. And we added a call to confusion. Which is like a call to action, if the action actually leads to more confusion, like our website does. Visit theweaponry.com to see what I mean.

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I love sharing our philosophy on the back of our sticker. Don’t overlook the little opportunities to share your brand message in unexpected places.

Then we also added a note about the importance of proofreading.  See the *note below? I’ll wait while you review.

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Did you find the typo? Did you look carefully?

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The Typo

If you didn’t find the typo it is probably because there is no typo. We just thought it was a funny addition. And perhaps it would increase engagement. Who reads the back of a sticker two or three times?  Well, if it’s a sticker from The Weaponry, and you feel challenged, maybe you will. Then, maybe you walk away with a story about how you spent 60 seconds looking for a typo that wasn’t really there.

This sticker sums up The Weaponry pretty well.

  1. We believe in the power of a consistent brand look.
  2. Red reflects our enthusiasm.
  3. We believe the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human mind.
  4. We believe that business is war.
  5. We believe we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
  6. And we believe in finding fun ways to increase engagement.

Your takeaway.

If you would like a sticker just ask (I now carry them with me everywhere). Or leave a request in the comment section below. You can also stop by The Weaponry to pick one up (1661 N. Water Street In Milwaukee). If you are looking for a job, an internship, a chance to network or just a good excuse to come for a grand tour of The Weaponry’s World Headquarters, a sticker request is a good in. And we have a sticker with your name on it. Well, actually our name is on it. That was just a figure or speech.

*If you would like to stick around to learn more about The Weaponry and my entrepreneurial journey please subscribe to this blog. You may even find some real typos.

 

Why there has never been a better time to wear white.

Welcome to After Labor Day! This, unfortunately, is the darkest time of the year. Because now we are supposed to put away our white clothing until Memorial Day. Or until Diddy invites us to a party. Whichever comes first. I have known about this rule since I was old enough to make my own fashion faux pas. But I didn’t understand the rule, until now.

After long minutes of research (hey, it’s the information age) I discovered the Labor-Day-White-Thing was basically a mean girl rule established by a small gaggle of old money biddies in the late 1800s. They decided that they would use the imaginary rule to identify and ostracize new money ladies who didn’t know the insider rules, and wore white on the wrong days. Yet over time everyone adopted this standard.

How lame is that?  

This isn’t a rule. It’s a joke. Or at best a standard we follow without reason. With this knowledge, how do you pick out your clothes tomorrow?

There are two ways to view these widely followed, but non-rule-rules.

  1. We can adhere to them, just like everyone in-the-know.
  2. We can see them as the gifts they are. And use them to help us stand out from the masses.

When I was in college I had a track teammate named Alex Mautz. Alex liked wearing shorts so much he decided not to pack them away after Labor Day, or Halloween or Thanksgiving. In fact, Alex wore shorts every day for an entire year. Which is no big deal if you live in Florida. Or Ecuador. But we lived in Madison, Wisconsin. Where I experienced -26 Fahrenheit without windchill. Alex turned heads everywhere he went. Not only was he memorable, he provided total strangers with an instant conversation starter from November through April.

One of the most important things we do at The Perfect Agency Project is find ways to help people and organization stand out from the crowd. That’s how you build a memorable brand. And if you want to be noticed, cultural and category norms are a gift.

White wedding dresses don’t stand out. Red ones do. I have seen thousands of diamond engagement rings that all blend together. But my sister Heather’s stands out. Because it’s an emerald ring. Chick-fil-a is one of my favorite restaurants. But unlike most restaurants, it isn’t open on Sundays.  Yet Chick-fil-a is the first restaurant I think of every Sunday (can I get an Amen?).

If you, your brand or business want more attention, find a convention and start doing the unconventional. There are opportunities all around you. If you would like help finding your white clothes after Labor Day let me know. We could grab some caramels and talk.

Why everything you’ve thought about Wednesday is wrong.

Today I’m starting a new Days Of The Week series. It focuses on the importance of each day of the week. The series will feature all of the best known days, including Monday, Friday and Saturday. But it will also touch on less popular days like Tuesday. But we are going to start the series with Wednesday. (Did the name of the post give it away?)

At The Perfect Agency Project we have deep experience in both branding and positioning. After performing careful research, analysis, a few focus groups, an online survey and interviews with key stakeholders, it is clear that Wednesday needs to be repositioned.

As the middle child of the work and school week this day has often been overlooked or forgotten. To most people Wednesday is Hump Day. It’s best known for being the half way point in the week. It represents the weekly hill to get over in order to start the downhill slide to the weekend.

This is so sad.  It is a horrible commentary on life, work and school. A week is not something to get through. To endure. Or to survive. The week, my friends, is your life. If you want the week to go faster and you’re thankful to be halfway done, you are saying that about your life.

Instead of calling Wednesday Hump Day, I would like to call it Evaluation Day. It is the day that we evaluate our progress towards our goals. It is the day we check to see if we should change something in our approach. Or if there is something more fruitful we can do in the last days of the week to make it a week to remember.

After beginning the week with goals in mind, on Wednesday we should take corrective action to make sure we achieve those goals and accomplish what we set out to accomplish. Wednesday should help you build momentum that you can carry through Thursday and Friday. Not to mention Saturday and Sunday, which apparently I just did.

I love me some Wednesday.  It represents the meat of progress. It is the full engagement day. Because it is equidistant from both Sunday and Saturday. Which allows us to keep our focus on the business at hand. If you are not finding the reward in your Wednesday you should find another way to spend your week. A new job, new career or new quest could completely change the way you see the day.

Wednesday is the American Midwest. Hardworking. Honest and real. Wednesday is farming and manufacturing and producing. Wednesday is where great things happen. Wednesday is not the fly-over states of some New Yorker magazine cartoon. (Which is really funny by the way).new-yorker-Map

So let’s all have a great Wednesday. Or Evaluation Day. Or Momentum Day. Or Full Engagement Day. Or maybe even Midwestern Day. Let’s make this the best part of the week. Because whether or not you realize it now, Wednesday is your life.