Would this creative idea have happened in London?

March 21, 2012

Monteith's cider: "Sorry about the twigs, folks."

For its size New Zealand has produced a lot of excellent creative work over the years.

I asked a Kiwi art director why this was so. He said agencies there work closely with client decision makers.

Does that happen in London? Maybe it did a few decades ago, but in my experience, it’s increasingly rare these days.

Anyway, I’ve just seen yet another great idea from New Zealand, this one for Monteith’s Cider.

The cider maker wanted to distinguish its product from rivals. So it asked agency Colenso BBDO to reassure drinkers that Monteith’s Cider is made only from fresh fruit, not concentrated fruit syrup.

Now that’s a pretty straightforward brief, isn’t it. Much simpler than the ones most of us copywriters and art directors get these days.

Agencies would normally just do some ads, possibly very arresting and engaging ones.

But Colenso BBDO went further.

Or rather it went back to the farm where the cider apples are grown.

The agency persuaded Montieth’s to collect handfuls of twigs from the apple trees. They then put these in the cider packs.

So when customers opened their packs they were surprised to find the twigs.

People started calling up the cider maker to ask or complain about the twigs.

The story got into the media (with a little help, one suspects, from the agency).

And Montieth’s had to explain itself.

So it ran charming apologies in the press and on posters headed, “Sorry about the twigs, folks”.

The words “NOT FROM CONCENTRATE” shouted from every ad.

In addition the company put labels on its cider packs saying, “Because we use real pears and apples in our cider, you may find real twigs in this box.”.

Now isn’t that a great way to get people talking about your product, and remembering your USP?

Imagine the work that went into making Monteith’s twig campaign happen. All the liaising between agency and client, and the packers and the pack designers and the farm manager and so forth.

And then, if you work in or with a London agency, imagine trying to make it happen for your/client’s brand.

Would an idea like that make it beyond the agency creative department?

“Nice idea guys, but impractical.”

Or what if it reached the client’s marketing director – what then?

(Sucking teeth) “Extra work for the packers…health and safety issues. Sorry, try again”

Or suppose it got as far as the client’s lawyers.

“Customers could prick themselves on a twig then sue us – forget it.”

Or do I underestimate London agencies and their clients?

Let me know what you think, below.

You can watch a short video about the Monteith’s Cider campaign at BEST ADS on TV.

 

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The power of intelligent long copy

February 15, 2012

You’ve probably heard it a million times:

“No one reads long copy.”

But is it true?

Copy is text.

People read long text all the time, in the form of news articles and blog posts – like the one you’re reading now.

And they read it because it’s interesting (to them at least).

So maybe a more accurate statement would be:

“No one reads dull, boring copy.”

My view is that if you make copy interesting and relevant to your target audience, people will read it. Lots of it.

But there’s no point in using long copy when short copy will do.

Sometimes though, an argument can’t be put across in a sentence or two.

You need to seduce readers, get them on your side, paint a picture, make your case and cajole them to change their minds or do something.

That takes time and, usually, quite a few words.

On such occasions you need long copy.

Is it an ad? What's it for? Click to read and find out

On the left is a recent example of long copy that’s been appearing in newspapers and magazines here in London over the past few weeks.

Its greatest strength is that it doesn’t look like an ad (thank the art director for that).

There’s no logo, or any other obvious sign of what the ad might be for.

Just a photo or painting of the back of a man standing at a window.

Then a headline that gives nothing away: “What are you waiting for?”

And then there are hundreds of words of copy.

This is a “Read the copy to find out what it’s about” ad.

Many creative directors I’ve known wouldn’t buy such an approach.

And I suspect that if you proposed it to the average client they’d consider firing you.

Yet it was the mystery of this ad that drew me in.

Of course, the adman in me was saying, this had better be worth it.

And I did stop to wonder a few times if this advertiser knew what they were doing, or if they were just throwing their money away.

But one intriguing sentence led to another, and I soon found myself hooked.

The whole secretive approach said a lot about the advertiser.

By the time I found that MI6 was behind the ad, I wasn’t surprised, but I was impressed.

By leading me on with questions about myself, I learned what sort of person MI6 is looking to recruit as agents.

I could sense the confidence of the organisation behind this ad.

Who else would have the nerve to take this approach and make it work?

It’s a discreet, intelligent ad recruiting intelligence people.

I mean, you wouldn’t run an ad that shouts:

SECRET AGENTS WANTED

Or…

YOU COULD BE THE NEXT JAMES BOND

No, neither of those would do.

Or you could run a no-nonsense ad in the appointments pages with a headline like:

MI6 seeks intelligence officers.                                                                                                                                         Successful candidates will…etc

But come on. We’re talking about a job in international espionage!

It’s got to sound exciting, but in a cool, intelligent way.

And that’s why, for me, the ad you see on the left hits the mark.

I think it’s brilliant use of long copy.

I don’t know who wrote it.

Maybe that’s a top secret.

 

 

 

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Mouthwatering marketing in Shoreditch

January 24, 2012

The past few weeks, I’ve been working in The Tea Building, the former Lipton Tea warehouse, in Shoreditch, E1, an interesting, edgy area: a mixture of dilapidation and gentrification.

There are quite a few new businesses here, but no central gathering place where everyone goes to shop and eat.

So the retailers in the Box Park across the way – literally a shopping centre made out of shipping containers – have a big challenge to attract customers.

Last week Crussh Juice Bars showed them how it’s done. The takeaway food chain, which sells fresh juice, smoothies, wraps and soups, recently opened a new outlet in the park.

Now, what do most food outlets do when they set up? They usually just hand out flyers for special introductory offers, or have staff standing outside offering samples to passersby.

Crussh took a different, bold and, to my mind, very smart approach. It arranged with the agency where I’m freelancing (BD Network) to come in and serve free lunch to all the staff. There must be at least 150 people working at BD Network, and all could sample a wide selection of Crussh’s delicious products.

Marketing doesn’t get more direct than that. And it explains why Crussh is expanding so quickly around London. I wish them luck in Shoreditch.

 

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Don’t make Waterstones’ mistake with your posters

January 18, 2012

The UK bookseller Waterstones [sic] has been doing some odd things lately. Last week, much to the horror of grammarians, the store announced it was dropping its apostrophe. This is not the first instance of the company’s strange behaviour though. Just before Christmas I spotted one of its posters, shown on the left. So, what’s [...]

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How to ruin your new campaign without realising it

December 13, 2011

An error marketers sometimes make when judging creative work. The other day an agency asked me to do something odd. They wanted me to rewrite the endline of a new campaign that was at concept stage. It was strange because I reckoned the existing one was very good. So did they. Unfortunately their client didn’t. [...]

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How to be more original with less

December 1, 2011

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi doesn’t have 10 fingers. He lost the ends of two of them in an accident. Since then he’s had to play in an unusual style, which has helped give his band its distinctive sound. In Iran, there is widespread censorship. To find ways around it, film makers there have to [...]

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Improve your marketing in 60 seconds

November 24, 2011

Imagine you have to stand up in front of a crowd and tell them about your business. You have 60 seconds to explain what you do. And why people should buy your product or use your service. You need to be persuasive. And make your audience remember you. So what are you going to say? [...]

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Choosing a name for your brand

September 15, 2011

A long time ago a businessman came to me for advice. He was starting a men’s clothing store and wanted to know what to call it. I asked him his surname. “George.” “That’s a great name,” I said. “George. The name of kings.” I didn’t tell him it was also my dog’s name. He shook [...]

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What hasn’t changed in 350 years of advertising?

September 8, 2011

Modern marketing seems so different from older forms, doesn’t it? With things like social media and content marketing, it’s easy to believe that advertising has changed fundamentally. But has it really? On the left is something interesting I stumbled across the other day. You can enlarge it by clicking here. It looks like an old [...]

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The new business opportunities right in front of you

August 18, 2011

Do you spend too much time trying to get new customers, when you could use it more effectively winning it from existing ones? Some years ago I was freelancing at a big, famous agency. I noticed they never seemed to pitch and I thought perhaps they’d lost their edge and were failing to get on [...]

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