My new favorite spot is for P&G’s Olay’s Pro-X. As one member of our team noted: “What a convincing message!” It certainly can be. They claim to be as good as or better than prescription brands. They even back it up by claiming “per clinical trials.” Problem is the fine print. The spot has a black border (think the space around a widescreen format) with this tiny little writing. The tiny little writing isn’t important, right? Well, unless it tells you that the product advertised was not the one tested against prescription brands. What a sham(wow)!!!
As I blogged earlier, we want to say we are the best. We now have data that we can use to support that claim. We won’t even need to trick you with that sneaky fine print copy. We now have even added a footnote to the photos on the website saying that they are real and untouched. Does that mean those who don’t make that claim are messing with the photos? Likely! It’s fun to be able to tell the truth. Problem is telling the truth might not be enough. We still need to a life stage brand that understands the lifestyle. It seems like a shame that telling the truth might not be enough because of all the fine print in the category.
Thoughts?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Learning The Way of the Client
A few years ago I was on the phone, on behalf of a client, to a moderator they had recommended. In the course of getting to know each other he mentioned that he was happy, for my client, because they chose an agency that fit the brand’s size. We were a medium sized agency and my client (though a nationally/internationally known brand) had a medium sized budget. He said he made the point that the big global agencies (which the client had been with prior) would never give them the attention they deserved. While his argument benefitted my agency I thought it was (at the time) almost insulting, to our industry, because I always felt I gave my clients the attention they deserved no matter size. And I had done this at agencies huge and tiny for clients who spent $100s of millions and clients who spent $100s of thousands.
Now I am the client. I have been weeding through our vendor lineup (cough, I mean “marketing partners”) and kind of feel like the schmuck. CACI is not a big spender (as of now). We are on a startup budget. It’s not like we are not spending but we are not P&G. In some cases I have found that we are lucky and have “partners” who share our vision and see our growth potential. They have met us more than half way on budgets. However, in most cases, we have “vendors” who hardly give us the time of day. I asked one “vendor,” who we are currently running a campaign with, to send me a simple credentials deck – nothing new, just what they use to pitch. A week later plus a reminder and I still don’t have it. I can’t even get them to respond and these are people CACI is currently writing checks to.
What a joke. What happened to our industry? Have we become this arrogant? I’m not asking for the world – I’m asking for simple customer service. Amazing the difference in perspective you get when you represent the client side. Dear past clients…I’m beginning to understand your pains.
As always, please visit:
http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/
Now I am the client. I have been weeding through our vendor lineup (cough, I mean “marketing partners”) and kind of feel like the schmuck. CACI is not a big spender (as of now). We are on a startup budget. It’s not like we are not spending but we are not P&G. In some cases I have found that we are lucky and have “partners” who share our vision and see our growth potential. They have met us more than half way on budgets. However, in most cases, we have “vendors” who hardly give us the time of day. I asked one “vendor,” who we are currently running a campaign with, to send me a simple credentials deck – nothing new, just what they use to pitch. A week later plus a reminder and I still don’t have it. I can’t even get them to respond and these are people CACI is currently writing checks to.
What a joke. What happened to our industry? Have we become this arrogant? I’m not asking for the world – I’m asking for simple customer service. Amazing the difference in perspective you get when you represent the client side. Dear past clients…I’m beginning to understand your pains.
As always, please visit:
http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Is your brand the best?
So what happens when you can’t prove you are the best brand in the category? I’ve had a couple clients (both will remain unnamed) that knew they were not best of breed in anything…neither even had a price point advantage. But that has not been the case most of the time. Most of the time my clients think they are the best and to suggest otherwise is heresy.
With CACI, I am at an advantage because, at least ingredients wise, we can’t be beaten. Problem is, short of testing the 800 or so competing brands (head to head) we can’t say it. We know the product works so we can say that. But we can’t claim others don’t work. Sure, we’ve all been there…done that. But what was different for me, this time, was I am representing the client side this time and dealing with the agency. I thought it would be refreshing to brief them that we need to go the emotional route in order to separate ourselves as a brand (instead of shoving a functional benefit down their throat). But no! The creative think it would be easier to just say we are the best!
Man this is new territory for me. I briefed asking for the magic of the experience. So many creatives I know love that. Well I guess if we also can say we are the best. I guess the functional reason makes things easier for creatives. I also guess I never stop learning no matter how many times I brief creative. By the way…we are the best.
As always visit the Rejuv website (http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/):
With CACI, I am at an advantage because, at least ingredients wise, we can’t be beaten. Problem is, short of testing the 800 or so competing brands (head to head) we can’t say it. We know the product works so we can say that. But we can’t claim others don’t work. Sure, we’ve all been there…done that. But what was different for me, this time, was I am representing the client side this time and dealing with the agency. I thought it would be refreshing to brief them that we need to go the emotional route in order to separate ourselves as a brand (instead of shoving a functional benefit down their throat). But no! The creative think it would be easier to just say we are the best!
Man this is new territory for me. I briefed asking for the magic of the experience. So many creatives I know love that. Well I guess if we also can say we are the best. I guess the functional reason makes things easier for creatives. I also guess I never stop learning no matter how many times I brief creative. By the way…we are the best.
As always visit the Rejuv website (http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/):
Monday, November 9, 2009
Briefing tomorrow
This is my favorite part of the process. I will give a full report on how things went after tomorrow. As a planner I truly believe that briefs need to tell the brand story of how we can connect with a consumer (potential customer). Creative should be the final chapter of that story. Sounds like a "duh" statement huh? Well most briefs, I've found, don't do that. Too many briefs are formulaic and without imagination. When you fill in boxes you get a box back...more often than not. That is why advertising is sometimes so stale (imo). I don't write my briefs that way nor do I present them in board rooms. My brief formats are different almost every time and built to present the non-linear story. I try to bring my teams off-site in order for them to experience the brand (something I can't do tomorrow which is unfortunate). I'll give more detail in my 11/10 report and tell you how things went.
Any other planners do briefs the way I do? Would love to hear your approaches.
Any other planners do briefs the way I do? Would love to hear your approaches.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Generation Gap or Life Stage Evolution? You Decide
I really want to share the cool insight that came out of my consumer groups but I can’t. I’m using it as the basis of the strategy for my client CACI. It’s pretty mind blowing…well for us planner folk. Maybe the non-ad people wouldn’t care.
Oh well, but I do need to share something. Otherwise, why read my blog? I tested two groups with one goal (of the groups) to determine who we would target. One group consisted of women 35-44 and the other 50-59. One thing I thought was interesting is that with the younger group they still felt the best was yet to come. The other group, however, looked back and said the perfect age was mid 30s early 40s. But what was more interesting was that the older group was more concerned with general beauty while the younger was dealt with individual issues (such as discoloration) as they came – taking a less holistic (pun and double entendre certainly intended) approach.
When I prompted the younger group with the stimuli --MORE ME THAN I HAVE EVER BEEN-- they thought of themselves as a person who has finally been validated because they realized what they didn’t know (no longer a smart ass 20 something…not my words, theirs). However, they still feel quite a bit of pressure to conform in certain ways (cosmetics helping them do this as a way to hide imperfection). The older group thought of themselves as more of a refined complete (whole) person. They are totally comfortable in their own skin (no pun intended this time). So when does this final transition happen? Will it happen for my younger group? For many years planners have discussed the gap between Gen Xers and boomers. Is this gap, I explored, simple a matter of life stage or is it a generation issue?
Thoughts?
Oh well, but I do need to share something. Otherwise, why read my blog? I tested two groups with one goal (of the groups) to determine who we would target. One group consisted of women 35-44 and the other 50-59. One thing I thought was interesting is that with the younger group they still felt the best was yet to come. The other group, however, looked back and said the perfect age was mid 30s early 40s. But what was more interesting was that the older group was more concerned with general beauty while the younger was dealt with individual issues (such as discoloration) as they came – taking a less holistic (pun and double entendre certainly intended) approach.
When I prompted the younger group with the stimuli --MORE ME THAN I HAVE EVER BEEN-- they thought of themselves as a person who has finally been validated because they realized what they didn’t know (no longer a smart ass 20 something…not my words, theirs). However, they still feel quite a bit of pressure to conform in certain ways (cosmetics helping them do this as a way to hide imperfection). The older group thought of themselves as more of a refined complete (whole) person. They are totally comfortable in their own skin (no pun intended this time). So when does this final transition happen? Will it happen for my younger group? For many years planners have discussed the gap between Gen Xers and boomers. Is this gap, I explored, simple a matter of life stage or is it a generation issue?
Thoughts?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Starting My Blog
Hi Everyone,
Recently I added a line of anti-wrinkle skin care products to my client list. For the first half of my career I refused to work on CPGs even if they weren't true CPGs like cosmetics. I prefered working on,what I considered more challenging, things like automotive, financial services, spirits, consumer electronics and technology. However, as I advanced through the ranks of account planning the inevitable happened - dog food, frozen veggies and things like soap. I found out I LOVED DOING IT! I even fell in love with marketing umbrellas!
So, somewhere along the line I built my core competancy in understanding the consumer behavior of females - especially millenial moms and boomer parents. And one day a cosmetics brand fell in the lap of this (former) beer loving, football fanatic manly man. I am excited about it. I would like to take everyone through my journey of marketing cosmetics and hopefully give some helpful tips (on the subject) along the way. Yesterday I finished up a round of focus groups (FLA & NYC). I will share my thoughts about them tomorrow.
Meanwhile, please visit my client's (new family's) website:
http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/
Recently I added a line of anti-wrinkle skin care products to my client list. For the first half of my career I refused to work on CPGs even if they weren't true CPGs like cosmetics. I prefered working on,what I considered more challenging, things like automotive, financial services, spirits, consumer electronics and technology. However, as I advanced through the ranks of account planning the inevitable happened - dog food, frozen veggies and things like soap. I found out I LOVED DOING IT! I even fell in love with marketing umbrellas!
So, somewhere along the line I built my core competancy in understanding the consumer behavior of females - especially millenial moms and boomer parents. And one day a cosmetics brand fell in the lap of this (former) beer loving, football fanatic manly man. I am excited about it. I would like to take everyone through my journey of marketing cosmetics and hopefully give some helpful tips (on the subject) along the way. Yesterday I finished up a round of focus groups (FLA & NYC). I will share my thoughts about them tomorrow.
Meanwhile, please visit my client's (new family's) website:
http://www.rejuvbycaci.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)