Two things everyone should know about advertising

1. IT'S A GUESSING GAME

In the end, after all the testing, focus groups, and research are over, we're making our best guess. Generally, we think whatever advertising program we've come up with will work; but it might not. People always react a bit differently to any stimuli.

NOTE: It's more of a GAME than you could ever imagine. Us creative folk really enjoy slipping stuff into our ad's that speak strongly to the rest of the advertising community. Sometimes we can get approval for advertising that's designed to speak solely to the advertising community.

There are lots of reasons people advertise, and there are lots of ways to get your marketing message out there. The idea of hiring an agency to look out for your companies best marketing interests is a bit weird. Your asking people who make a living convincing the masses to buy stuff they don't (necessarily) need to help you advertise. Do you really think we can't convince you that the ideas we come up with will help you in exactly the way you want them to?

It's a game to us. We want to get results for you because it will help our business. Will we always tell you the best ways to achieve your goals for the least amount of money? Will we tell you ways to increase profit by huge margins if it means our business won't benefit as much? The answer is, of course, NO!!

Why not? We're scared. If you knew that you could increase your profits, productivity, and overall customer satisfaction without buying broadcast media (potentially saving millions) why wouldn't you? Large advertising and media corporations have substantial vested interests in seeing broadcast media boom. The problem is that broadcast media (both TV and radio) are on the decline. People are watching their favorite shows on the internet, or on a PVR box (which allows you to scan past commercial breaks).

REMEMBER: It's been a slow process. We all love watching TV shows, and we all love surfing the internet. We're now closer than ever to being able to link the interactivity of the internet with the entertainment of TV. When the link is finally realized advertising will have to switch from convincing people to do things, to connecting solutions with problems. When fully interactive, internet integrated, television is introduced we'll be able to choose what we watch, when we want to watch it, without commercial breaks. The goal for advertising at that point will be to help people who have some problem (e.g. dirty windows, uncomfortable underwear, a cell phone that keeps dropping calls.)


2. IT'S CHANGING

It's been forecasted that over the next 10 years, conventional advertising will completely disappear. I find the idea of unconventional advertising very exciting. Imagine: fantastically creative ideas being delivered on demand through creative mediums. Imagine the type of ad campaign that could get your best friend to come up to you and tell you about "the coolest" cell phone exactly when your ready to buy a cell phone.

We're on the cusp of having truly interactive and media-integrated advertising. We'll feel some growing pains, but in the end, we'll have some fantastic advertising that may shed some light on who we are as people, why we do the things we do, and may even bring people together. Has the primary goal of advertising ever been to help people?

What Everybody Ought to Know About Brainstorming

I've never understood those unorganized, unproductive brainstorming sessions that are just sprung on everyone around a boardroom table. To understand how to conduct a successful brainstorming session, is to first understand the people you're brainstorming with.

There are three types of people you might be brainstorming with:

1. The talkers: to these people, talking spawns thinking. The more they talk, the more they think. They're generally very comfortable saying the first things that come to their mind.

2. The listeners: these people like to think before they say anything. They're generally quiet during surprise brainstorming sessions because they're absorbing the information, only to process later.

3. The regurgitators: these people hear ideas and associate them with something that they've heard before. They're generally the type of people who come up with unusable ideas, or common ideas. These people often help to get brainstorming sessions started.

THE BEST BRAINSTORMING SESSION EVER

I was recently working on a campaign where brainstorming was required. I sent an email to all participants 2 days in advance, telling them about the brainstorming meeting. The talkers showed up and thanked me for the advanced notice so they could avoid scheduling conflicts. The listeners showed up and, having previously researched the brainstorming topic and digested some of the information, became talkers. They shared such good information that it spawned the talkers to talk even more. All of these great ideas helped the regurgitators come up with unique ideas.

WE GOT THE CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING - all for the price of an e-mail.

- Give 48 hrs notice, and get a fantastic brainstorming session. -