Shaw & Todd - Advertising and Marketing Communications

American Business Media just put out their first half spending figures for business-to-business pubs and trade shows. Not surprisingly, there was a 6% decline in magazine spending. Trade show spending, on the other hand, only slowed by 1%. It’s this second number that interests me. Print advertising, as we all know, has been taking a back seat to digital for a while now, and with a constricting economy, there’s really no signs that this trend will reverse itself. Why aren’t trade shows declining at the same pace? Aren’t people too busy and budgets too tight? And can’t the information be found on the Web? I thought the virtual trade show and Second Life were supposed to signal the end of their real-life counterparts. Turns out we’re not quite there yet. While trade shows definitely aren’t the powerhouses they used to be, marketers don’t seem to be ready or willing to give them up as a means to interact with customers. We’re seeing it with our clients. As a whole, they’re not attending as many or spending as much, and there’s an ongoing debate over cost vs. benefit, but they continue to be a major factor in the marketing mix.

I’m being asked this question all the time, so I thought I’d again jot a few words down on the subject. The super-short answer is a resounding ‘YES!’. This thing we call social media is simply too widespread to be ignored (or avoided). It’s now yet another media tactic that needs to be utilized, whether you are delivering a message, soliciting feedback or trying to ascertain what people are saying about you. More and more B-to-Bers are going the viral video route (with mixed results; more on that in a future blog). But social media is so much more than creating a funny video and posting it to YouTube (more on that in a later post, as well).

A couple weeks ago, Boston-based communications group Cone released the results of a study they conducted that gauged whether Americans expect companies to have a presence in social media.

Some highlights:

• 43% said companies should use social networks to solve customers’ problems
  
• 41% said companies should solicit feedback on their products and services
  
• 37% said companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
• Men are twice as likely as women to interact with companies via social media

There’s also a great presentation that Universal McCann made available awhile back that surveyed 17,000 Internet users from 29 countries. Some more interesting nuggets can be mined from this one, such as:

• 44% of people surveyed have a blog (compared to 28% in 2006)
• 57.5% have a page on a social network (compared to 27% in 2006)
• 69% visit brands’ official websites for product information
• 82% prefer to search for information on a search engine or to read people’s comments on personal profiles on social networks like Facebook

Stuff to sink your teeth into, to be sure.  Moral of the story? Get social media on your radar immediately. If you don’t know where or how to start, you can always contact Shaw & Todd.

Ok, it’s Friday night, so time for some more levity. Thought I’d revisit my stated intention to share with you some the commercials past and present that I find humorous. The original blog post was a very brief discourse on how difficult it is to pull off humor in advertising, simply because people’s sense of humor really run the gamut. Having been in the situation of trying to pull off funny in light of the many obstacles, I’ve decided to use this blog space to applaud the successful production of humor in advertising.

This installment was one of the somewhat controversial Ameriquest ads from a few years back. Many felt these to be in extremely bad taste, and truthfully I can see how some people would take offense (although these same people should really lighten up a bit). I’m not going to get into whether or not I feel this ad is effective. I just find it funny (and obviously memorable).

Without knowing offhand, I decided to look the other day to see who the number one domain registrar was. The answer didn’t surprise me; what surprised me was how far out in front the leader was. The king of the hill is Go Daddy, registering three times the number of new domains than runner-up Network Solutions. That’s quite a margin. Low prices I’m sure has a lot to do with it, but let’s not kid ourselves, their outrageous ad campaigns are a primary reason Go Daddy built such as large lead. Ad professionals have weighed in on more than one occasion, deriding the over-the-top tactics, and I must admit I was one of them (couldn’t believe how crass that first Super Bowl commercial was back in 2005) but I guess the Go Daddy execs are the ones laughing last. The good news is that Go Daddy is recent proof that advertising works. It’s also recent proof that sex still sells. Does it also prove that men are registering domains at at least three times the rate of women? Going to have to look into that one.

Since such an enormous amount of us are using social media in some way, shape or form, it’s natural for us communicators to try to figure out how to leverage/use social media in our marketing efforts. I’ve been to seminars, client meetings, and networking events where this very subject has been discussed and discussed and discussed and discussed (you see what I’m getting at). For those of us marketing to scientists, we couldn’t have been happier when Bioinformatics and PJA posted the results of their survey: “The New Collaboration: Social Media and the Life Science Opportunity.”

Kudos to those involved with the study. While there’s nothing earth-shattering about the findings, we need data like this to pore over. So before I lead you to the report, I do want to offer a quick comment on the top answer to the question: “In which social networking sites do you currently participate on a professional basis?” Number one answer: The Science Advisory Board, by an enormous margin (69% to 2nd place finisher Nature Network’s 24%). Huh? Here’s why: over half the survey participants were registered members, and most likely active participants, of the SAB. So maybe that result is a bit skewed. I can accept that. Otherwise, there’s some great info in there, and therefore a must-read for anyone currently marketing to the life scientist.

Check out the study here.

How have office politics played a role in your advertising? Have you spent waaaay too much time discussing logo size? Argued over a static vs. animated banner? We’d love to hear about it!

Ok, I’ve gotta correct myself. One of those e*trade talking baby commercials I must admit is pretty amusing. It’s the one where the kid discusses the creepyness of clowns. Ok, now I defy someone to find me a funny commercial with a dancing lizard or a wacky monkey.

“We want something funny. Let’s be funny”. Occasionally we get this from a client. Once we probe into why exactly they have declared that they’d like to inject humor into their advertising, and once we agree that the campaign’s goals and objectives do fit with employing humor to deliver the message, then comes the hard and often agonizing part: delivering something that is actually funny. Now don’t get me wrong— we are a fun bunch here at S&T, but developing a campaign that starts off funny and ends up funny can be a herculean task.

The first hurdle (of many) is creating something that appeals to the humor of everyone who touches the campaign. Not easy. For instance: I’m not a fan of talking babies, dancing lizards, or wacky monkeys. Don’t find them funny in the slightest. But saying that, I can get beyond my distaste for such things if the message is clearly delivered. Case in point: the e*trade talking baby commercial. I get it, online trading is so easy with e*trade, a baby can do it. Yuk. But it does make the point; I’ll give it that. And people do seem to love it. Just not my cup of tea (and yes, I do have a baby, but I still find the concept as unfunny as “Weekend at Bernies“).

So what’s funny to me? Does anyone care? Don’t know, but here’s my first installment. It’s an IKEA commercial, directed by Spike Jonez.

This is probably one of the top 5 client requests, right up there with “too much white space” and “let’s bold the phone number.” Anyway, what’s the justification for super sizing a logo? For years, I’ve sought proof that a logo enlarged by 10% translates into more sales or even more awareness, but alas the proof is more elusive than the treasure in Capone’s vault.

In my experience, many advertisers don’t understand that a logo isn’t simply a trademark design representing a company. The logo is the embodiment of the organization. The logo must have meaning and that meaning not only comes from a customer’s experience, but also from carefully crafted messages and images in the form of advertising. Oftentimes, clients feel that the first thing that needs to be seen is the logo. Not true. In my mind, it should be the last. And most importantly, the messages that precede it should support and enhance the values that the logo stands for.

I went to the bank today to address a CD that was maturing. In reviewing all of the current options, the bank advisor politely told me that if I were to let it roll over into a new term, the interest rate would drop by 75%.

Whhaaaattttt?!?!?!?!

I had to bite my tongue and mentally scream the mantra, “don’t shoot the messenger!!” to maintain my composure. Watching the tears of anger and poverty well in my eyes, he explained, “Interest rates are dropping in today’s climate, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Is this true? In today’s culture of instant … everything, is it possible to capture someone’s interest, or is this interest rate also spiraling downward; a victim of perpetual information overload?

IMHO, all is not lost. Interest rates are evolving, for sure; and successful adaptation is necessary to stay competitive. With streaming videos, social networking, podcasts, Ruby On Rails, Bluetooth®, and an array of other funny-sounding platforms and technologies, it’s easier than ever to get instant access to your audience, and vice versa. The same goes for your competition, too, so it’s more important than ever to stand out in the crowd. This is where messaging is critical (and S&T’s specialty), but we’ll save that topic for another day.

Suffice it to say, tactics can certainly grab attention, but the true rate of interest should be measured by the response to the message. The perceived value in the message is what sparks your targeted customers to take action.

And begrudgingly spurred by value, my humble monies remain in the bank’s cybervault instead of my mattress. For now.