Effective advertising campaigns

Today it is time for a somewhat long-winded discussion of effective advertising. It comes to me as a big surprise that most people in sales and marketing are... well... not very great at sales or marketing. Take, for example, the guy at GNC yesterday. I went in to buy a little bag of protein powder to keep in the office (great for when I just don't have time to get to protein and I know I'll wake up feeling like butt without it!) and the guy comes rushing over to sell me a gold card. I have worked at GNC and let me tell you, that's not at all how you would do that! First, the bag of protein cost like $10.00. The gold card costs $15.00. Never try to sell a GC to someone when it's more expensive than their purchase. Second, someone buying a small item is generally not a "regular" customer. All you have to do to find out if they are a regular is ask something like, "do you like that flavor?" If they say "never tried it" or "I don't know," they are not regular. The gold card sells like a hotcake to regular customers; it's not at all appealing to non-regulars. It just deters them from coming back. Third, this was the worst: guy: "what's your email address." K: "Do I need to give you my email address." Guy: "ONLY IF YOU WANT FREE COUPONS!! AND $5000.00!! OR A CHANCE TO WIN IT!!!" Nope, don't think I want you to have my email address...

Anyway point is-- people and advertisements in sales need to learn to sell. One thing that interests me greatly is advertising campaigns. For example, name that brand:

"Just do it."

"I'm Lovin' it."

"_______: It's What's For Dinner."
"Make _________ Yours."

"15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance"

"Yo quiero ___________!"

*singing* bah dah dah dum (I'll tell you this one, as I can't convey it: Intel)

"What happens in ______ stays in _______"

(FYI that's Nike, McDonalds, Beef, 7-up, Geico, Taco Bell, Intel, and the City of Las Vegas)

Are some of these annoying? Yes. But the fact is, even if those slogans are 10 years old, we still know them. Which means, to an extent, they worked. We have this brand engrained in our minds; it makes it like an old friend. I don't eat McDonalds by choice, but I know their slogan, and I feel apt to discuss them. In the presence of someone who does eat McDonalds, my mention of their nastiness may trigger in another a desire to eat McD's. On the contrary, rarely do I compare nasty food to say, White Castle or Jack in the Box. They are no better than McD's, but their advertising is much less.

Obviously these are big incorporated beacons, and not everyone is going to get this kind of publicity, but I think we can take some lessons from it: A slogan needs to be:

1. Somewhat familiar (the audience needs to at least have a partial relationship with the syntax-- the ever famous exception would be the AFLAK duck)

2. Associated with some kind of imagery whether visual, aural, or olfactory (ex. almost all Atlantans know Tom Shane: The Shane Company, open weeknights til 8, Saturday and Sunday til 5, because of his boring voice)

3. Unique / out there / catchy

So my dad okays advertising campaigns for Scana. And I remember once he was telling me about this new campaign Scana had. You have probably never seen it. And if you did, you wouldn't remember it. The ad is some very stylish suburbanites dancing on a black background and snapping their fingers. The last one to snap makes a "pilot light" and a stove turns on, and it says "Scana: it's a snap." (pilot light because it is a natural gas company.) I remember him joking about how the commercial would go if instead of dancing, the people were farting, and the line was "Scana: we make gas!" To be honest, the second commercial, even if offensive, would probably get a TON more publicity-- it fulfills the above requirements.

Which brings me to why I started thinking about this this evening. I saw an extremely well done advertising campaign for a nonprofit. Most nonprofits either go for the "classy" or "pitty" approach, sometimes with aside of rallying protesters. There are a few exceptions that I really espouse, for example, Susan B. Komen has the breast cancer walk-- it's a great idea-- get people to exercise, raise money, and become more aware of one of the most dangerous health problems for women (and a few unlucky men). The training walks for this usually include survivors who tell women about healthy maintenance as far as regular self-checks and of course proper exercise. It's a great idea. I have worked with the foundation before as a liason for Brooks, and I really liked them. But tonight I was in a publix, and I was checking out, and I saw a can of soda sitting half open on the counter. My first reaction was to grab it to throw it away, but as I turned it around, I saw it had a sign on it that said something like "such and such kid was born in Kenya at a weight of 12 oz. and a length of six inches. That is the same size as this can. March of Dimes." Now, I hate kids, so if that advertisement can actually make ME think twice, it's got to be working.

What I really liked about it was that it was just incredibly straightforward. The slogan: March of Dimes (that's the npo), the uniqueness: it's an object you can touch and link back with the words, and the familiarity, hell, it's a can of coke. I noticed they had these on every check out line, and near the front of the store was a nice discrete area to donate money to the march of dimes if you chose. It didn't jump at you, it wasn't distasteful, the cashier didn't even mention it. So this one goes out to March of Dimes for a very tasteful and effective advertising campaign.

KRISTIN APPROVES.