Chapters and Facebook

Last week Chapters Indigo offered an interesting offer – 25% off your next in-store purchase, all the way up to December 24. You go to their Facebook fan page, become a fan, then print out their unique coupon. Check out the screenshots. This is what you see when you follow the Facebook fan page link I provided two sentences ago.

When you click the “click here” button, an option to share with friends will appear. Of course you don’t have to share, but why would you not, given the holiday spirit and the ease of information dissemination via one simple click?

The moment you hit “Publish” or “Skip” your coupon appears. Notice the “Print” button, which automatically sends the coupon to nearest available printer.I really like the use of social media here!

1. Chapters can measure the success of this campaign simply by monitoring coupon scans, which I’m sure have a special “from Facebook” code on them.
2. Chapters Indigo Facebook fanbase will grow, obviously
3. Chapters minimized the number of steps required in coupon acquisition (I’m always annoyed, but accepting of “Fill out this form…”, “Check your e-mail”, open e-mail, print the e-mail, etc)
4. …And embedded a simple viral factor

Brings thoughts about what Meteor Solutions calls earned media. Those that share the deal with their Facebook friends are effectively participating in the According to them, it’s your content, shared by your customers through email, blogs, and the social web. You can buy as many banner ads as you want, but when your visitors share your message for you… that’s earned media. It’s powerful, it’s growing, and it’s everywhere.

There we go. Maybe I’m so into it because I love reading and Chapters is better at delivering books than Amazon. Oh, and it’s Canadian. Didn’t think I’d ever get to this, but I’m heavy into Canadiana lately. But that’s for another blog post.

Filed under: Great Products , advertising, books, campaigns, literature, marketing, promotion, social media

Why Doesn’t Every Consumer Staple Company Do This?

In a quest to find a personal hygiene product, a stick deodorant, to be precise, I ventured into Shoppers Drug Mart, which is a Canadian (and better, in my opinion) version of Duane Reade or Walgreens in the US, Jean Coutu in Quebec and London Drugs in the Canadian West.

Walking through the aisles populated by at least one individual lost in thought and intimidated by choice of products that he or she came to buy, I stumbled onto my section. It is important to state that at first I kind of chuckled at old men bent over rows of toothpaste, females ardently arguing over two boxes of hair color which shades looked exactly the same, young guys figuring out bath tub cleaning supplies, and old ladies hovering over stacks and stacks of hand cremes and facial moisturizers. So many choices, so little time, so much uncertainty.

Then I became part of the comedy that I first laughed at. Seriously, how the heck am I supposed to choose an antiperspirant, there are like 50 of them begging for my bucks. OK, there is a gel type and a white stuff type. I pick the white. That’s a start. Then I start taking tiny steps to the right and to the left, unable to choose between two different brands (I felt like trying something different as my previous deodorant wasn’t particularly thrilling).

And then EUREKA. I see the brilliant people behind DOVE screaming their product benefits at me via a very visible sticker on their Ultimate Beauty Care antiperspirant stick (Radiant Silk type, btw). I immediately grabbed it, smelled it, like it, put it in my basket and walked away.

If at least ONE market player explicitly tells me why they’re better than their extremely similar competitors in the consumer staple market, I’m going to go with the loudmouth brand. Thanks Dove, thanks Unilever actually.

The 6 benefits and advantages are, just so I could hopefully inspire you to switch brands:

1. all day wetness protection
2. all day odour protection
3. formulated to stay on skin, not on clothes
4. Dove 1/4 moisturizers
5. smooth & silky application
6. beautiful fragrance

As a relatively unpicky (but quality-seeking) consumer, I want all of those features. But notice something? Every antiperspirant stick brand can make the same claims, perhaps sans the Dove 1/4 moisturizers part, but with their own secret ingredient. We’re talking consumer staples, we’re talking spending 15 minutes deciding between thing A and thing A. It’s almost all the same. And yet Unilever was the only one that explicitly shoved the differentiating factors into my face.

Bravo, you win my $4.39!

Filed under: Great Products , advertising, life, marketing, product, promo

Think Outside the Dodecahedron

Here it is again! While reading Sean Moffitt’s SlideShare Presentation: Word of Mouth – A Prescription for the Bad Economy, I saw a slide which was yet another miracle from the BBDO NY’s office for UK-based The Economist. I understand it’s last year’s, but I don’t get to see many billboards, especially The Economist billboards here in Canada. “Think outside the dodecahedron.” First of all, dodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve faces, but usually a regular dodecahedron is meant: a Platonic solid composed of twelve regular pentagonal faces, with three meeting at each vertex. Second, ’tis brilliant. I’ve seen the blogosphere really take on the expression. Thirdly, I personally think that the ad is not “telling you to think outside the dodecahedron”, as if you can do it just like that. This is more about the power you will attain by reading The Economist (damn it, I missed the last two issues myself, they’re in Toronto, and I’m in Vancouver until the 2nd). This is thinking about the thinking outside of the box. Squared, cubed. It’s about innovation².

By the way, while we are on the topic, check out the rest of the amazing advertising slogans (following the cut) created for The Economist and selected by Chand Arora. My favorites are highlighted:

Filed under: advertising , advertising, bbdo, creative, marketing, the economist

On Talking Fast

Last week at work a young handsome man of African descent told me that perhaps I should speak a little slower. He said something about 50% slower. I shrugged it off, and said that people can actually adjust to a fast pace, especially if you’re making crystal clear sense. It’s definitely easier to adjust to a faster speech than an accent or incomprehensible blabber; worse yet, it’s incredibly hard to understand a poorly constructed or illogical dialogue.

Now, I’ve looked at the Introduction to the Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, and guess what: “I advised the reader to restrict himself to ninety words a minute in television commercials. It is now known that, on average, 200 words a minute sells more of your product. Pitchmen in open-air markets know this, so they talk fast.” (p. 17) That was in 1988. Twenty years later, I’m willing to bet on 300.

Why am I likening myself to television commercials (obviously, the effective ones)? Because I see myself as the product. My own self. A Brand. Those of you who know me personally (and not), know exactly what I am talking about. I am selling myself, and it usually works. In addition to talking fast, the mind has to be going twice as fast, as I’ve to come up with punchlines, think about possible objections or answers to questions before you get to formulating them. Most of the time, it’s intoxicating to listen to a fast speech :-p My thinking doesn’t stop when my mouth stops. Imagine what a blessing it is when writing exams and papers. Wouldn’t you, as my employer, want to have someone who can outthink the sceptics and plunge into problem-solving before the vast majority does?

Filed under: advertising, the world eh , advertising, brand, marketing, ogilvy, pop culture, productivity, research, self

High on life!

As usual, I am bursting with energy, enthusiasm and ideas on how to make the world a better place. Or, perhaps, a better place for me? Not really, I care about many things, including the welfare of animals, women’s rights and treating everyone as kindly as possible (for we don’t know what battle they’re fighting, right).

I had a great information interview at BBDO Toronto today. I spent 90 minutes there, and met amazing people, asked them questions, answered their questions. Mad respect for BBDO yet again.

(Damn, I should be finishing my last marcom assignment, and yet again, I am writing here, because so many thoughts are appearing).

Okay, more than ever before, I want to be in advertising. I want to help people (clients), I love creative folk, and I can communicate with creative folk, i see the big picture, and I can analyse the numbers. In fact, the finance minor would probably help. I possess the gifts of translating the numbers into cohesive sentences. I am also a perfectionist. I pay goddamn attention to details, and, oh I’m sorry, but I can get quite demanding about those darn details.

The point is, I’ve given my answers to the right people (which is the above version with some +/- adjustments), and the right people are happy. I am also happy because, more than anything, I want to throw myself into the battle. Rawr!

Filed under: moving up , joy, self, toronto, photos, advertising, marketing

Product Placement

Product placement works. Like magic. It is also one of the cheaper and more effective ways to reach the consumer – show the product in action and worry less about the PVRs. In fact, how about more collaboration with television series and what not on putting products into the hands of actors? How much more/less would that cost? And how certain can you be now that the audience will certainly see the product in action?

The first effect of product placement that I remember in my short life involved us, 16- or 17-year olds, watching one of Michael Moore’s (yuck) documentaries. I believed it was Bowling for Columbine (or another one) with my Law class. If memory serves right, there was something about McDonald’s. While the movie bashed it, a whole bunch of us got hungry. Guess where we really wanted to go after the movie was over.

Mad Men. Those folks smoke and drink non-stop. For every misfortune, the remedy is to drink. For every great thing – more drinks. Whereas I don’t drink more frequently, I definitely seem to grab my favorite Djarum Blacks more often than not. Ooops!

PS. Happy December. In two weeks I’ll be in Vancouver! Wee!

Filed under: advertising , advertising, mad men, marketing, movies, product, product placement

BBDO NY for The Economist

I love The Economist. I love their advertising. BBDO forever!
Look at this smart way of getting their message across:

I simply can’t get enough. These pizza boxes with world food distributions stats appeared in 20 Philadelphia-area pizza shops. They are strategically located around universities and colleges, showing how students’ food consumption affects the rest of the world, and how The Economist is relevant to their lifestyle.

If I wasn’t hooked already, I’d go out and buy an issue immediately.

Filed under: advertising , advertising, bbdo, creative, marketing, the economist

My Life in a Literary Nutshell

What I do:

Confessions of an Advertising Man

What I have done:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

What I’d like to do:

A Moveable Feast

Filed under: Quotable, moving up , advertising, books, hemingway, literature, memories, ogilvy, self

MindBase

As you may know, Yankelovich came up with a MindBase psychographic segmentation scheme.

I found the test online, and lo and behold, this time around I knew the answer before I finished the questionnaire. DUH.

But I wanted to say some other things in this post, besides the result (which I think is highly dependent on age, even though I don’t plan to shut down my power generating facilities for at least another 43 years)

I am Expressive my motto is Carpe Diem I live life to the fullest and I’m not afraid to express my personality. I’m active and engaged and I embody a true “live in the now” attitude with a firm belief that the future is limitless and that I can be or do anything I put my mind to.

Filed under: advertising , advertising, improvements, marketing, product, self

Mad Men

Oh Gosh, in episode 7 of the season 1 Roger pours vodka into a glass of white calcium-rich liquid as he tells his wife (via phone): “Mona, I am drinking my milk.”

My professor Marla Spergel suggested I watch to get a faint/not so faint idea of what the advertising world is about. The award-winning series Mad Men (from the producers of The Sopranos) certainly caught my eye. Besides the constant smoking, gorgeous costumes and notable script, the show’s wit and solid character development make it a worthwhile show to watch. I’ve been streaming episodes from the first season; have no idea what happens in the second yet.

I won’t write at length what my opinions are on the “original” idea of the advertising agency, but I certainly am glad that things have changed. Thank God for the advertising standards and self-regulation in the industry as a whole. I don’t know how I would feel joining the ad force in the 60s, but I am certainly optimistic about what I can bring into that world once I graduate (very soon). It ain’t as bad as you think it is. Just look back to compare.

Oh, the Halloween Simpsons episode featured a Mad Men parody. Homer killed off celebrities so ad men could features ze celebrities in their advertisements. Watch the parody opening credits here.

PS. And the original opening credits, which are quite attractive:

Filed under: advertising , advertising, bbdo, mad men, oldies, television, tv

Finally, Bell

You know, two years ago I wrote a paper on Bell’s Beaver advertising campaign for my Visual Communications class. I dissed the efforts pretty hard. For Christ’s sake, why should Canadians listen to what the goddamn beavers have to say about telecommunications? What does bloody Gordon know about PVRs? I wrote a lot more enlightening and obvious arguments as to why Bell should fire their advertising agency…

AND LO AND BEHOLD, THREE YEARS LATER THEY DID IT!

I was just really outraged at incompetencies of some agencies, and how easily they feel they can ridicule a telecommunications company. And so of course, now that Bell saw the light, they’ve almost become the rival that Rogers deserves. Almost.

PS. I still can’t stand the “er” part. Er here, and er there. Dave and I saw these teaser ads the day we flew to Berlin and had a whole discussion about this. I didn’t expect Bell to reach that level of abstraction. And annoyance. Yet again.

Filed under: random facts , advertising, campaigns, diss, marketing, review