Doctors spend a lot of time in school learning how to diagnose our ills. They run up big school debt. Then they are expected to start a business, usually with very little capital.

Even if they do have money- medical office marketing, as practiced by most physicians maybe one of the boringest categories of all. A picture, a name, a location and “now accepting new patients” makes up 90% of the ads. A few might say something like “specializing in smiles” or provide a laundry list of services or accreditations. Of course, comparative advertising is verboten by the medical society- because as my friend who failed the bar exam 7 times and is now driving a truck says: “what do you call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his class from Medical school? Doctor.”

So, if you do happen to have an exceptionally talented physician, who graduated near the top of his class, and you’ve known since he was just an Air Force captain working on bomb carrying model airplanes and was the kicker for the Air Force Academy, and is a really nice guy with a down home touch… and a small budget to create ads- what do you do?

Have fun!

Who wants to go to a doctor who is already going to bend you over- who runs an ad that looks like he has a stick in his ass before he’s even met you?

Meet Doctor Christopher Blasy, DO, who will not only be your favorite general practitioner if you live in Hinesville Ga, right outside Ft. Stewart and close to Savannah Ga. Besides giving Dr. McDreamy a run for his money- Chris will make you feel comfortable- even if he does have a rubber glove on and is coating it with KY. We had to make that come across in an ad- before he even had his formal “I’m a doctor” picture had shown in our e-mail:

No photo, no problem. Dr. Chris Blasy opening office ad.

The people at the publication got the ad- and offered to insert a bad photo that they had of him- they didn’t get the ad.

When the “official looking” photo came in- with the white lab coat- a standard medical ad didn’t seem right either:

Find the Doctor. This is your first exam.

While it doesn’t exactly say “now accepting new patients” this ad also serves as a social filter- making sure that his patients have a sense of humor (science had already proven that people with a sense of humor live longer) thereby guaranteeing his patients will live longer than the competition. Good marketing can even improve your patient mortality rates- but don’t tell that to the hospitals who still like to run ads inviting sick people in for the highly risky procedures as opposed to working on preventative medicine.

There will be more ads for Dr. Blasy- but we thought we’d share some of our ideas for medical advertising to help other doctors realize your ads don’t have to be as boring as your med school text books.

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Posted in: Advertising case studies for The Next Wave, Advertising humor, Differentiating your brand, Low budget advertising, Practical Marketing 101

Photo of Free Stamp sculpture in Cleveland Ohio

We have a book called “Words that Sell” and one of the best is the word “Free.”

The obvious question is how are you supposed to make money by giving things away? It all depends on what you are getting in return.

Getting attention is the wrong reason to give things away for free, although it’s unfortunately, the reason most businesses use it. They feel that the only way to get attention or to compete in a crowded marketplace is to give people an offer they can’t refuse. Unfortunately, this is the fastest way to going out of business too.

Sampling is often a code word for free. This is the hail Mary pass for marketers- thinking that if people only try my product once, they’ll be convinced that we have the better mousetrap. And while sampling can work great in-store for impulse type purchases (think the little lady’s in a grocery store offering you food to try)- the problem is that on your return visit- you may not have the prompt without them handing you a taste right there in the aisle. I’ve got a whole collection of razor handles- that came as a demo, but, my ability to find and justify the prices of the blades once in the store stops me from becoming a mach 6 regular.

The real benefit of “Free” comes when the customer thinks they are getting something for free- a service, an opportunity to win etc. without realizing they are in fact giving the marketer something back. These days- the most valuable asset a marketer can hold is a list of real, verifiable, valid potential customers with qualifying data. This is where “free” becomes a marketers best friend.

The perfect example of the power of “Free” as a business model is Google. Google provides a whole suite of “Free” tools to make your life easier- and what you give them in return is more valuable by far than the search results, e-mail service or software- you give them information about you, your buying habits and a fairly complete profile that only gets better with time.

Google knows what you want- and then sells access to you to advertisers in the forms of sponsored ads that are amazingly similar to what you are searching for. You write an e-mail to your friend about a yoga class- and there, next to your gmail message- are ads for yoga books, videos, mats etc. It’s non-intrusive and relevant if you want to take the bait.

Even if you aren’t Google sized, you can use the power of free to finely tune your brand messaging. With media becoming ever more fragmented and more expensive- making sure you are getting your message directly to people most likely to need your product or service can be the difference between making or breaking your advertising budget.

Working with a local orthodontist, we know that our market is parents of kids aged 8-16 and the kids themselves- that may need braces. It doesn’t do us much good to reach people without kids (or seniors who take their teeth out at night)- so by offering a contest to “Win free braces” we create an opportunity to build a database of potential customers so that we can focus our marketing dollars on only those with crooked teeth. In exchange for “Free” we’ve gained something extremely valuable to our small market client.

Another tool was to give away free mouth guard fittings for school aged athletes. You know the ones you boil in water and then press in place. The ones that almost never fit quite right. By buying the mouth pieces in bulk- and providing a branded case for the mouthpiece, we keep our brand in front of a group of influencers in our target market: jocks in junior high and high school.

Besides the acquisition of data, true free offers often generate buzz marketing- where consumers tell each other about the amazing offer. It’s absolutely mandatory that when the consumer follows through- they get what they were expecting. Chick-fil-a and Coke teamed up to offer a free sandwich with an online promotion- but, when I went into a Chick-fil-a to redeem the offer, I was told that they were a “remote store” and the coupon was only available in stores where they make the sandwiches. Needless to say- I’ve not been inclined to go to a Chick-fil-a ever again.

Many marketers confuse discounts with free by offering things like buy one get one (BOGO) offers- or other offers that really aren’t free- but just a price cut. Don’t make this mistake. Free must mean free- at least if you want the maximum number of leads for your business.

Of course, this is free advice, so you can take it or leave it, but, if you are interested in maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing/advertising dollar, never underestimate the power of free. Just make sure you are getting something valuable back from your free offer without the consumer knowing it.

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Posted in: Low budget advertising, Practical Marketing 101

The prognosis is not good for newspapers, when in fact, they should be kicking butt, but, these mass creators of content are totally clueless. From Media Week is an analysis of what’s happening to the newspaper industry:

Shrinking newsrooms. Falling operating margins. Double-digit declines in ad revenue. American newspapers today are awash in ink—but the ink is red. Soaring newsprint prices and stalled ad business have, in fact, led analysts to call this year the worst for newspapers since the Great Depression.

A recent Pew Research Center survey illuminated the sorry situation. More than half of 259 papers polled reported cutting full-time newsroom staff and the news hole over the past three years. Large dailies have been hit hardest, with waves of layoffs sweeping through the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post, the Tribune and McClatchy companies, and others.

Buyers Want Newspapers to Reinvent Model

And if you read the whole Media Week Wake for the industry, you’ll be even farther down the wrong road than the papers are as they toodle off to meet their maker. Newspapers should be thriving right now- because they are content creators- and content creators are the mac daddy of the digital world. The problems extend way beyond their model of delivery-  they’d do well to go read Nicholas Negroponte’s excellent, 1996 book “Being Digital” to get a clue.

Usually, as an industry is in decline, the best version of the product appears. This hasn’t been happening in newspapers due to fundamental flaws in the idea of separation of editorial content and the business side.

Look at Google to get a clue. 70% of users ignore the sponsored ads- probably like 70% of newspaper ads get ignored too. The difference between the two- is Google understands it’s brought to you by those advertisers and does everything possible to make their ads relevant to the content on the page.

Take that model and look at your delivery of content and ads in any newspaper. No connection whatsoever.

Instead of learning about their readers, newspaper editors have for years thought it was their job to teach us about the world. That kind of arrogance today just doesn’t cut it. There has to be a quidpro-quo in the exchange of news and ideas. We’re not talking TO our audience, we’re talking with them.

Tell that to editorial boards around the country.

Next- we’re living in a world of information junkies. People are in constant contact via computer, pda, phone etc. How any newspaper can live on a “Daily” news cycle is nuts. The actual paper they print on is their biggest mistake. Think about it. A Kindle is $359, the cost of a years subscription to a paper- highly subsidized by advertisers who aren’t getting any feedback at all-is around $200- instead of delivering a one directional piece of daily garbage to the door- doesn’t it make more sense to give them a Kindle with a 2 year commitment? And, then charge advertisers via pay per click?

Instead of increasing content, most are shrinking their news hole. That’s the last thing Google would do- shrink the number of responses it gives. Sure, no one looks to see who comes last out of the 1,287,000 results, but, the reality is- people want more content, they want video, photos, charts, links to relevant information to explore and verify if you are indeed giving them “all the news that’s fit to print” (or in this case “distribute”). The value is in knowing your customers better by watching what they read, what they click on- and then giving advertisers access to the exact customer they are looking for.

No advertiser needs a million impressions of anything. They need buyers. This is where newspapers haven’t made any advancement at all. Even the New York Times who seems to be getting it- still serves me with the same ad for a Westin hotel at the bottom of my iPhone reader- over and over- even though I don’t often stay in hotels- and there isn’t a Westin anywhere near me. Sorry- NYT, you are missing your role in selling the ad right.

Even when Newspapers do build in “Web 2.0″ features- few give the consumers who comment any “Respect” back. I’ve not seen a newspaper that provides a subscribe to comments feature via e-mail- which I believe can be easier than adding a feed. Few allow you to build back links to your site- a reason the most savvy bloggers leave comments. And lastly- they insist on limits of 3000 characters- or some other arbitrary “control freak” tendency. Sorry- but space on a hard drive shouldn’t be an issue - you want the people on your site, writing away- for as long as possible.

Some people don’t mind when the Cheesecake Factory hands you a menu that’s full of ads, but any kind of Pop-up, drop down, walk-over or auto-play ad on your site is intrusive and offensive. Newspapers may be desperate for ad revenue, but getting in my way of ease of use doesn’t make me like an advertiser more. It also doesn’t help if it’s not relevant (see above). Car dealers who are used to screaming in their TV ads seem to love intruding on my web reading: here is a hint: STOP.

And if you can’t give up on your multi-million dollar printing press dinosaurs, at least, think about this: design matters. The great copywriter Howard Luck Gossage said “people don’t read ads, they read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad”- so how come I can look at beautiful magazines all day long, and most newspapers still look like they were designed either for a LinoType or a comic book? Where is the grace of great typography which we can do faster, better than before- where are the beautiful photos that we can gather 10 frames per second without having to wait for developer and prints? The paper is at the end of it’s existance as a paper- make it great.

Last but not least: CONTENT RULES. While I can get content of the world straight from the horses mouth in any language on any continent at this point- why are you still giving me a menu based on what you think is relevant instead of what I like and need. No, I’m not talking about custom portals- but, figure out how to be intelligent in suggesting other similar content. Give me the links to the sources you used in your research, build a relationship between the news editor and the news reader. It may get dangerous with the best editors building their own following- but, hey, at least they’ll still have jobs, unlike the rest of you if you continue on the path that you are on.

Thoughts?

There is more, but this is to whet your whistle. We’d be happy to teach your newsroom on how to survive in a web 2.0 world. That’s what we do at The Next Wave, marketing • innovation.

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Posted in: Future of advertising, Marketing & the Web, Personalization of advertising

There aren’t ad agencies bending over backwards to solve the problems of the micro-enterprise unless they want to win awards, because the value equation just isn’t there. Big clients equal big media budgets, small clients equal no media budget, and even though the media budget shouldn’t have any connection to the compensation of an agency, every one would rather have Burger King instead of Benjamins Burger Meister on their account list.

So, if you own a small business, and may want to be big one day- this post is for you. But, right now, you just want customers and have a small marketing budget and need real answers so here we go.

Branding is the most critical decision you can make. They say “what’s in a name” and the simple answer is everything. Yet, I don’t know how often little thought is given to the corporate moniker and the associated mark. This will be what you have to live with for the life of your business. The name needs to be unique, catchy, have meaning, be memorable- and preferablly spellable with out having to go to phonetics.

Here’s the short don’t list:

• Don’t name it after yourself, in case you ever want to sell the business. Yes- I know it worked for Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler and Toyota, but, there was no Mr. Scion, Mr. Lexus or Mr. Infiniti.
• Don’t name it after the location- in case you ever have to move the business ie. Dorothy Lane market has three locations- none on Dorothy Lane.
• Don’t make it cute using numbers for words or abbreviations- ie. Marketing4Performance or Gold4yaMouth.
• Don’t limit your business by a technology or what you do- ie. “Muffler Brothers” does complete car care and “Dayton Electrolysis Center” now uses lasers to remove hair.

After naming comes the brand mark. Nike originally paid $35 for the “Swoosh” and thought it would never be as good as the Adidas 3 stripes which actually helped reinforce the shoe. Next Computer paid Paul Rand $100,000 for their logo- only to have the company last a few years.

Rule of thumb- it’s not a good logo if only you would ever want to wear it. Invest in a good design.

15 years ago, the URL wouldn’t make a difference- now it does. It’s preferable to get a dot com address- even though search engines have made this really irrelevant (a good site will be found no matter what). Find something people can spell- like www.smileodontics.com as opposed to www.phonyx.com

The importance of a website that can be searched and indexed is absolutely critical- and it’s why we teach our Websitetology seminar at least once a month in our market. Small business can’t afford to either have a static website that isn’t updated frequently, or an over the top Flash site that looks uber cool but can’t be updated or found. If nothing else, make sure your business is listed in Google local.

While we could spend quite a bit of time on building a better site your website must have the following:

• a search tool
• a way for customers to comment
• an RSS feet
• a unique URL for each key concept or product
• webstats
• content should be separate from presentation.
• Blind friendly W3C section 508 compliant

All of these can be accomplished with an Open Source Content Management System. If you don’t know what some of the above mean- spend some time on our websitetology site.

While having a great brand and site are a good start- the real problem is how to tell people where you are and what you do- FOR THEM. It’s not about you- it’s about how you solve your customers problems.

If you are a restaurant- what will be different, what is your value proposition, what kind of experience you will provide. This was dubbed “The Unique Selling Proposition” or USP- and today it is even more relevant. In a web 2.0 world where ideally, the consumer is all knowing of all options available, how will you convince them to buy from you? While paid media was the method of choice for the last century, recent studies are suggesting that 57%+ of internet shoppers are more likely to trust “someone like them” than a professional reviewer. Remember where we said customers need to be able to comment on your site- well, either they’ll comment on yours- or someone elses (this restaraunt lasted a little over a year).

Building links to the community isn’t any faster than building an ad campaign. No one shot silver bullet solutions- it’s a long term commitment to forging ties that connect you to your marketplace. Sure, sponsoring t-ball leagues doesn’t seem like a sophisticated marketing strategy, but for an orthodontist, it’s one way to reach kids that will probably need braces.

Mass media is failing small business miserably. While local broadcast TV used to be a viable solution- with the addition of first cable, then sattelite, then competing IPTV over phone lines- it’s becoming less of a BROADcast and more of a hit-or-miss cast. Local radio is now splintered by multiple formats, owned by a very few companies, providing very little localization. People are tuning into internet radio, podcasts and their own personal music servers (iPods). Newspapers are losing readers in droves in print- and picking up readers online- yet, the ads they serve are just as untargeted as before. Until these media build a marketing profile of their customers to gain permission to provide focused marketing in exchange for their content it’s still a hit-or-miss marketing strategy.

This one-to-one marketing relationship is the holy grail of our current media landscape. The best example of providing meaningful targeted advertising is now coming from “sponsored search” where marketing messages are keyed to the topic you are searching. Google has become a mega brand and a powerful force in media by only showing text ads that relate to the searches you are making. No pretty pictures- just words based on your words. Even though 70% of searchers ignore the sponsored ads, these may actually be the best option for small business available. Even with the spectre of click-fraud, and high cost per click, at least the ad is being served to someone looking for your specific product or service.

Ideally, you are on the first page in organic search. It can be done for any business, if you make the effort. Instead of spending time cold calling or shotgun marketing- work hard at building your site to be the “expert’s answers” to your customers problems. We provide the most complete listing of our competition for ad agencies in Dayton on our site as one way to make sure we are considered in a customers search for an ad agency. You can do the same for your local business, or join in a trade association that keeps a list.

While we’ve spent quite a bit of this post on internet strategy, old fashioned Public Relations (PR) and event marketing should also be part of your plan. Even though readership is decreasing in newspapers- there is nothing like an article on your business to build awareness. Look to become friends with local business writers and bloggers- and be available as a source. Any time there is a new development in your field, make sure to write about it on your site- to share your expertise on the subject.

Knowing your customer: We can’t stress enough the importance of getting at least a name and e-mail address from every single customer. Comment cards in restaurants can be a great tool- but only if you reward your servers for getting completed cards from every table. A simple bowl to enter to win a meal, or movie tickets can be your best source of leads for your next promotion.

If you are still reading at this point- you must really care about marketing your business and want to differentiate your business from the competition. Here is the magic that makes small business work- you have passion for what you do, and love being the best at what you do.

Often times this means not taking yourself so seriously. Seriously. Have fun, make your business the place that people like to talk about, make your ads that you do run- fun, friendly and funky. We once names an electrician “Singing Joes Electric”- only to have it nixed by Singing Joes Wife. After years of struggling as the boring “Electrical Quality Services” he bought an established brand “Jahn Electric” and took over their brand. We’ve run into too many people who want to stand out- yet say they want an ad just like the competitions- don’t make that mistake.

When we do posters for the Second Street Public Market events- people steal them, frame them, decorate their room in the same color palette. When was the last time you wanted to take one of your ads home with you? What happens when customers want to wear your shirt, hang your poster up, or stick a bumper sticker on their car? Business.

We have no problem laughing at beer ads during the Super Bowl- but, when it comes to wiring a kids mouth with braces- why not make fun of it? Marketing is about building relationships- and there is nothing better than humor and fun to break the ice.

So when looking for an agency to work with your small business, look for the one that has ads that you would want to take home with you, the ads that speak on multiple levels, that interest, intrigue, inform or just instigate some sort of emotional connection between you and the brand.

You aren’t hiring an agency to spend your money on media- but to give you a message that people would want to make a part of their life. And remember, the agency can only make an introduction- it’s the execution and delivery of your product or service that will cement the relationship and be the platform for your business to grow.

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Posted in: 1 to 1 marketing, Differentiating your brand, How to select an ad agency, Low budget advertising, Marketing & the Web, Practical Marketing 101, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world

It’s good to see one of the local agencies get recognized for doing great work, but it’s even better to see them cash out. Barefoot has been on our list of agencies that aren’t The Next Wave for a long time- however, at least for right now- they seem to be the next wave.

Cincinnati-based Agency to Become Part of BBDO’s Proximity Network

NEW YORK, JULY 14, 2008 – BBDO Worldwide announced today that it has acquired Barefoot, Cincinnati’s premier creative advertising agency. The 15-year old agency will become part of BBDO North America and a member of the Proximity Worldwide Network, BBDO’s award-winning global direct and digital marketing network.

Barefoot >> Press >> BBDO Buys Barefoot.

We’ve had a few pleasant e-mail exchanges with CCO Doug Worple- including about his iPhone data roaming charges- and to update their url, since we were one of the main sites that sent them traffic (when it comes to digital- we can still give them a run for their money).

We wish them all the best. Although, in our book- Cincinnati’s premier creative agency is The Creative Department. But, BBDO didn’t ask us.

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Posted in: Ad agencies in Ohio, Great ad agencies

This isn’t really news, but, Ad Age has a pretty long article about yet another public meeting questioning why the big ad agencies are whiter than a Clorox ad on a black and white TV from the 50’s.

While the article focuses on the black/white thing, there is the subgroup of “Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses” SDVOB’s. The large agencies who have government ad contracts are mandated to spend 3% of their budget with SDVOB’s, yet not a single one does. Think about the $300+ million dollars that both McCann and GSD&M have to recruit for the Army and Air Force respectfully. Not only are they not meeting the goal, they find ways to make excuses on why they can’t.

(Yep, you guessed it, The Next Wave is an SDVOB and HUBzone certified advertising agency)

Read the whole article-

Agencies Have Funny Way of Showing ‘Commitment’ to Diversity - Advertising Age - The Big Tent
The New York City Commission on Human Rights held a public meeting Monday night regarding the issue of diversity in the advertising industry. A rough count of those sweltering in the close quarters of a conference room on Rector Street showed 27 people in attendance. It’s hard to say what was more discouraging: that of the 27, three were members of the commission, two were lawyers and three were journalists; that of the six white people in attendance, two were members of the commission, two were lawyers and one was a journalist; or that in an industry this size, on an issue this public and this important, a turnout of 20-some-odd people was considered a success. (And before anyone starts griping about other representation, there was one Asian-American woman in attendance and no Hispanics. But let’s be honest: From the start, this has been predominantly a black-white issue.)

More embarrassing and much more troubling? Of the 16 New York ad agencies that have had their dirty laundry aired by the commission — and of those many, many other agencies that hide behind the other 16, thinking “Better them than us” — exactly two, Arnold and Saatchi, had representatives in attendance…

Kudo’s to Arnold and Saatchi for at least sending a representative.

We’ll sit by the phone waiting for the call…. (not).

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Posted in: Minorities in Advertising

In an effort to keep our list of agencies that aren’t The Next Wave up to date, we’re letting you know that Tricom is rebranding:

Marketing firm changes name - Dayton Business Journal:
After 24 years as TriCom Marketing and Communications Agency, the company is changing its name.

Renamed as TriComB2B, the new brand is designed to stress the agency’s business-to-business expertise in marketing products and services, especially to industrial manufacturers and technology-based companies.

“The re-branding of our agency is a unique opportunity to emphasize our strengths to the industrial and technical markets we serve,” said Chris Eifert, Vandalia-based TriCom principal, in a news release. “With our new brand, we are building a distinctive identity that will allow us to more easily attract clients.”

Other company changes include a new tagline, “Smart. Strategic. Technical,” a redesigned logo and a newly updated Web site. All changes went into effect Tuesday morning. The Web site will provide clients with access to digital asset management for projects among other features.

TriComB2B has 24 employees and provides services such as branding, developing and implementing plans for marketing and communication, public relations, electronic media and trade-show services. Clients include Dimco-Gray Co., Accutemp and Rittal Corp.

After 18 years in business, The Next Wave doesn’t need to rebrand. And we’re still the agency in Dayton that promises to make you more money than you pay us. If you landed here while looking for TriCom, it’s because we’re the ones who fully understand Web 2.0.

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising

I was in a session on launching viral campaigns with a bunch of non-advertising people (and a few ad people)- all very web savvy, and it was interesting to me that campaigns were being talked about without any reference to the agency that did the campaigns.

Yeah. Believe it or not, no one cares who did the campaign except those of us in the business. But, out of the examples, 2 were Crispin Porter+Bogusky work.

First was the story of Subservient Chicken. The amazing penetration of this site were evident when probably 80% of the room raised their hands when asked if they’d visited the site. The idea of trying to get a major US corporation to post a site that has a guy in a chicken suit wearing a black garter belt, a la online porn peep show was a gutsy move by CP+B. The presenter knew BK’s sales went up- but didn’t know if it specifically sold chicken.

To confirm that: here is a bit from an AdWeek analysis of the campaign:

Dissecting ‘Subservient Chicken’
But, aside from Web traffic, did the campaign actually drive customers into stores to buy the sandwich? About a month after the TenderCrisp sandwich debuted, BK reported that sales had steadily increased an average of 9 percent a week. Since then, Geis says the company has seen “double-digit” growth of awareness of the TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich and “significantly increased” chicken sandwich sales. And the TenderCrisp does sell better than the Original Chicken Sandwich.

The second mention was the “Safe Happens” tv spot for the Jetta. Not necessarily a “viral” campaign, since it ran on broadcast TV- but, it did make an impression through viral sharing.

This spot is the absolute antithesis of the typical car glamor spot that Detroit favors. Showing a real life situation and the car having an accident would make Detroit uncomfortable (although crash test dummies and a test sled have been standard fare for years). It makes you wonder why Detroit never approved this type of work- especially since their main knock on foreign “small cars” was always that they aren’t as safe as the boats from GM, Ford and Chrysler. There was a lot of discussion over the graphic nature of this spot on broadcast- which effectively multiplied the effect of the buy. Some even argued that the fact that the Jetta’s brakes squealed and didn’t stop like ABS, avoiding the wreck - could backfire.

But, once again, everyone in the room knew the spot. How many agencies get the nod two times in an hour by a non-agency pro. Case closed, Crispin Porter + Bogusky is doing memorable, discussable work and that’s worth a lot more to a client than the mundane dreck most settle for.

The other campaign that got mentioned was the Dove Evolution spot, that’s known by all in advertising-

but, the penetration of awareness in the room was at least half that of the CP+B work. (granted, the room was probably 65% male). Also note, the Evolution spot (from Ogilvy and Mather, Toronto) cost considerably more to make than Subservient Chicken (which reportably cost $30K). Unilever has since caught flack for being disengenuous for promoting Dove as the anti-sexification of women, while also running ads for the testostorone overloaded AXE body spray sites. Watch the following disection of Unilevers hypocrisy:

The description of the session, (which was so popular they had to move rooms):

“Everyone wants the benefits of a viral campaign, but few people really understand how to put the pieces together to create the best chance for success. Find out the most common mistakes companies make when aiming to go viral and how a little bit of brainstorming can set you up for success. Jennifer Laycock will walk you through the actual brainstorming process she uses with clients to help you gather information needed to put things together. She’ll also help you learn to identify “key influencers” within your industry and will offer concrete tips on the best way to approach them with your campaign.”

I was impressed with Ms. Laycocks reasoned approach to generating low-budget viral campaigns, and her worksheets for assessing how to put a plan together, however, there is no guaranteed formula for creating viral campaigns. Crispin launched Subservient Chicken by asking it’s own employees to write everyone they knew to check out the site and spread the word and it worked beyond the wildest expectations.

There is one thing that is guaranteed about good viral- that traces back to an old adage- there is noting that will kill a bad product off faster than good advertising. If your viral campaign is based on deceit, a poor premise, or isn’t able to be verified- you will have more problems than you started with (see GM’s effort for the Chevy Tahoe- when gas was only $2.50 a gallon).

We’re currently tasked with creating buzz and hopefully a viral for a re-launch of a retailer online and off, and it will be interesting to use Ms. Laycock’s process along with our own ideas in the coming weeks.

One thing is for sure though in creating viral campaigns, the winning ideas aren’t the safe ones.

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Posted in: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Great ad agencies, VW advertising, Viral Marketing

It’s summer, which means we get assaulted with e-mails from students who want to intern at The Next Wave. Generally, they start out telling us how great our work is, and then tell us all about their skill set. Usually, their cover letter, and or resume are both too long. I’ve seen students pad out “experience” to be longer than what I’ve seen from 20 year veterans with international awards under their belts.

The funny thing is, we get very few candidates who actually attempt to market themselves the way they would sell any product or service for a client. You want to be in advertising? What would an ad for you look like?

There are a couple of things in reviewing portfolios online or in person that always bug me:

If the work isn’t able to explain itself, other than what media it was in, where or when it ran- or the budget, you shouldn’t be showing it. In a PDF portfolio- only include the briefest description (ala Luezers Archive)

The second is that just because your professor gave it an “A”- or the client ran it, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s done, finished, the idea is over. If you’re looking for work, you should be constantly improving your work, updating it, fixing the things that you weren’t quite satisfied with.

Ira Glass talks about this in this great little video about good taste and perfecting the craft- watch the whole thing (thanks Angela for posting about this gem)

This ties back to Sally Hogshead’s famous post on doing 800 headlines for BMW Motorcycles to get the right one. Or Chiat/Day’s mantra- “Good Enough, isn’t Good Enough.”

There are no excuses for a portfolio- if it’s got flaws, or your resume has holes, it’s up to you to fix or fill them. If you want to be in this business, there is no excuse good enough for a client who just blew a hundred million on your experiment.

So, before you think you’ve got it all covered after a few years in school, just take another listen to Ira playing back his work after 8 years in the field, and realize, you’ve still got a long way to go before you’ll you before you should start your cover letter praising our work. We keep our awards in the bathroom, our heads still fit through standard doors- and we’re working as hard as we can to get better too.

We want you to show us how you can be a part of improving our work- and just tell us the basics. We know good work when we see it (and we’re even happier when it’s ours!).

Best of luck.

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Posted in: Careers in Advertising, The craft of advertising

Steve Greenblatt, formerly VP and Executive creative director at BRC Marketing has opened www.greenblattcreative.com. The Dayton Daily News (which unlike the Dayton Business Journal) provides  a website and phone number, where you can see a long list of clients and some representative work. The paper reports that he will be offering freelance creative resources to business.

This is the second ad agency announcement in as many days- with U! Creative announcing their spin off from Wilson Advertising yesterday.

It seems the new trendy word to name your agency is “Creative.”

Here is to Creative! Let’s hope clients start buying it, instead of the same old hum-drum “advertising” most locals seem to actually pay to produce.

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Posted in: Everything you want to know about advertising