Sometimes I like Direct Marketing

Sometimes there are moments that make me realize why I started to work in direct marketing. A few days ago I went to an optician to have my glasses repaired.

I handed them the glasses, they checked customer data and I was told to come back some days later to pick up the repaired item. Not even five minutes passed after leaving the store I received this short text message (translated and paraphrased):

Exclusively for YOU in April!
FREE spectacle frame (max. €99,90)
with your purchase of new glasses
at your XYZXY store until 04/30/2010.
This short text message = voucher

Clearly, turning in my spectacles for repair had triggered the text message. If my glasses hadn’t been a sad little backup set, I probably would have turned back checked out the glasses at their shop.

    The Clutter, Visualized

    Dutch Design studio STUDIO SMACK has created this video to demonstrate “the immense scale of the visual bombardment” we encounter every day. Sure, in theory we have all heard the numbers of the many thousands of messages we encounter everyday, but what does it mean? In the video, all texts, logos, ads competing for our attention are highlighted white, everything else is black.

    That’s quite some clutter to break through and to paraphrase PSFK, it makes you think how visible advertising really is. (btw, the video is Creative Commons licensed, very useful for presentations)

    KAPITAAL from STUDIO SMACK on Vimeo.

    Via PSFK.com

    The Crowdforce is Strong in This One.

    I am not too convinced of crowdsourcing, more precisely, most of the ways I observed crowdsourcing in practice. Most of the times you get the feeling companies use crowds to get cheap ideas and designs. You know what I mean, first three get a small price and the company then picks a random design from the pool of thousands of submissions they got for free and now own.

    But Casey Pugh’s StarWarsUncut is a whole new set of awesome and it shows the way to make exciting things happen together with the multitude of creative people on the web. For StarWarsUncut the original Star Wars: A New Hope was split up into 472 parts of 15 seconds each. People could claim segments and submit their interpretation of it. All clips will be stitched together to make up a whole new experience of the classic. As of April 9, the team of StarWarsUncut announced that the movie is finished and posted the first trailer.

    Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

    I don’t know about you, but this looks amazing and exciting. So many brilliant ideas in so little time. I wonder what the full movie experience feels like, but I can’t wait to see the whole thing.

    There is also a five minute teaser available: Teaser here.

    What if Economists were in charge?

    I am a big fan of Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics, both book and blog, and their refreshing perspective on “the hidden side of everything”. Only recently they have launched Freakonomics Radio, a regular podcast which I recommend to everyone who is observing people and numbers.

    I just got around to listen to the last episode What Would the World Look Like if Economists Were in Charge? This speculative question opens another truly entertaining and informative podcast episode. I had to laugh out loud at Mart Laar’s description of his encounter with Margaret Thatcher. I found Stephen Levitt’s anecdote of his daughter at the end especially insightful, as it explains why negotiators (like lawyers) and not number people run the show in politics.

    Superfreakonomics is already on my bookshelf, but given my current workload this will have to wait until July i am afraid.

    Breakfast is for lovers…

    The Lurpak campaign by Wieden+Kennedy, London is one of my favourite recent advertising campaigns. I like the insight and strategy behind it and how they were translated into marvellous ads (with long copy). The rhythm, images and focus on what good you can make with Lurpak (instead of promising some super-healthy proposition) are a pleasing contrast to the usual screaming of advertising.

    Yesterday evening a new series of print and television ads went on air:  ”Saturday is Breakfast Day” (via the W+K London blog). 

    Inspire people to make Saturday a breakfast day. The brilliant copy and images are mouthwatering and inspiring. Again, the focus is on something you can make WITH Lurpak instead of some obscure promise what Lurpak does for you. Improve your Saturday, enjoy a wonderful breakfast, add Lurpak. Brilliant.

     I believe this resonates with many people in general (breakfast people like my wife or non-breakfast people like me) and Britain’s situation in particular.

    It is hardly a coincidence that this piece appeared in today’s Times. Camilla Cavendish makes observations about the British and food that could very well be in the brief for the Lurpak campaign:

    Most of us are confused. [...] We balk at paying for raw ingredients, but readily cough up for extortionate ready meals. We spend hours watching TV chefs but apparently only 13 minutes on average making a meal – down from one hour in 1980.

    and the last paragraph, where she recalls Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, drawing the contrast

    between Britain’s “pornographic” onslaught of recipes and TV chefs, and the “act of true love” that he believes is making food from traditional, local ingredients. 

    Imagine that commercial.

    Hello Sunshine

    Long time no see, old friend. (have I mentioned that I love Winter solstice?)

    • Dezember 23, 2008
    • Diary
    • comments closed

    Let’s be clear what we are talking about…

    Last week this commercial for the Austrian Lotteries went on air. I actually like it. It has a good idea, the main protagonist is perfectly cast and it is amazingly subtle and still funny – for Austrian standards.

    Last year’s “Dog” was also a good idea in my eyes. Got Lowe GGK showered in awards, but internationally only shortlisted (i.e. Cannes). 

    Yet, despite being brilliant ideas and quite successful, I believe these ads could look a lot better if the agency would be clearer about what they are talking about.

    These commercial have a looong history: Along with the tagline “Alles ist möglich” / “Everything is possible” they have been showing the depressing status quo of a person contrasted with the glorious golden future of that person being a lottery winner.

    These two commercials have completely left that look-at-that-terrible-job-you-are-in-now-and-the-lottery-will-get-you-out-of-there strategy and tell a much clearer message:

    Play the lottery because it will you make so filthy rich that [insert commercial idea here]

    I have my doubts that there has been a true strategical decision towards this message. Rather good ideas that were pressed into the old corset. The execution is still stuck in that old tradition of how these spots must be made.

    So in “Opera” they spend 15 seconds telling nothing of relevance, because that was the way we have always done it. It makes no sense, does neither help story nor punchline, and it costs extra money each time the ad is aired. And it will go no further than the Cannes shortlist.

    Just my two cents.

    Google Zeitgeist 2008

    Google has published Google Zeitgeist 2008 this week. This yearly summary of the year’s most popular searches at Google. So what is interesting here? 

    Google Zeitgeist 2008

    The results for the most popular searches in Austria are odd: youtube, orf, ebay, hotmail, wikipedia, herold… Not just Austria, all over the world people seem to mix up address bar and the search field.

    This implies a few things: first, this seems to be a basic design flaw in internet browsers. Of course, the address bar is commonly placed on top, but for most people attention is drawn to the all important input field in the center of the start page. (Or, if I recall correctly, in Internet Explorer people’s inputs in the address bar are redirected to a search engine when no website is found)

    Whatever the cause one can’t help but notice, secondly, people (the significant majority) are nowhere near internet-savvy. In some countries more, in some countries less. Really successful in the web business are the people who really acknowledge and exploit this fact: hackers, phishers and spammers. On the legal end of the spectrum, most internet advertising and market seems to just talk and connect to the experienced internet user segment.

    Thirdly: Why bother printing your web-address on ads? Or, if you are internet service like check24.de or monster.at: Why bother confusing your clients with adresses? What has to stick is the brand name, and then you have to make sure you own the search results when it is entered.

    And lastly, it probably pays to buy yourself into the searches for names of your competitors. Say someone wants to get to eBay, googles eBay and as first result gets the paid ad for Ricardo.at, an Austrian auctioning site. Admittedly, eBay know their stuff too well, but for most other brands you can position yourself right in front of your competition’s gates.

    New Amnesty International commercial: “You Are Powerful”

    Usually, I am not a big fan of the commercials made for AI or other human rights groups. Most of them feel like lion bait with lots of emotion, shock etc. instead of seriously trying to win people for the cause.

    But I do like this new commercial for Amnesty International. I like that it dramatically visualizes what I believe Amnesty is about (and why I am a member): normal people stepping in when human rights are violated. You might discuss the effect that effort has in reality, as in the YouTube comments. But without Amnesty and all the people engaging, the world would be a much worser place.

    Edit: Agency is Mother, London. http://www.motherlondon.com/

    • Dezember 11, 2008
    • Advertising
    • comments closed

    Lucky charms

    I had to wait 30 years for my first bowl of Lucky Charms only to realize that no responsible parent should ever give their kids these sugar-coated sugarbombs.