Category: Portland advertising

What You’re Facing in 2008

Roy Williams’ Monday Morning Memo has a remarkably clear-eyed look at the forces you’re up against as you go to market in a rapidly changing society. Scroll down to “What to remember when selling in 2008.”

Inspirational excerpt:

 “Naiveté is rare today. Your customer is equipped with a bullshit detector that is highly sensitive and amazingly accurate. And the younger the customer, the more accurate their bullshit detector.

When selling, remember: If you don’t admit the downside, they won’t believe the upside.”

When you read the full article, pay special attention to #4, Word of Mouth is the New Mass Media.”

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Advertising Invades the Shopping Cart

The advertising onslaught you face at the supermarket is about to increase — a company called MediaCart, in partnership with MicroSoft, is unleashing targeted video advertising in the cart itself. According to Online Media Daily,

Using Microsoft’s technology, MediaCart will execute anonymous ad targeting through data obtained from ShopRite’s customer loyalty card program. For the system to work, shoppers must first scan their card in the system. They then receive ads and promotional offers based on past purchases and saved shopping lists, which can be uploaded from a home PC.

Will shoppers love this, or will they set their carts on fire in protest? Stay tuned — the experiment will begin later this year at ShopRite stores on the East Coast.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Bad News For Portland Advertisers

I just finished Day 2 of Dan O’Day’s Copywriting Master Class. Just Dan and ten students. Two flew in from Australia, one from Canada, and one from Fiji.

Although there are lots of people writing and producing radio commercials in Oregon and Washington, I’m the only person from the Pacific Northwest at this seminar.

So if you’re a Portland-area businessperson, and you’re working with anyone other than Phil Bernstein, your media rep isn’t here. If you’re working with an ad agency, your account executive isn’t here. Neither is the agency creative director, or any of the copywriters. I guess Los Angeles was just too far to travel.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is for those people who work with Phil Bernstein. Because I’m here, and have spent 14 hours so far — with another 7 to go tomorrow learning the most effective techniques for writing and producing effective radio commercials.

Want to find out what I’ve learned, and how it can help you tell your story, find more customers, and make more sales? Call me at 503-323-6553, or email me here.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Copywriting Wisdom

A short post, as I’m at Dan O’Day’s Copywriting Master Class for the next three days. Dan delivered this gem in the morning session today:

“Don’t talk to me about your grass seed — talk to me about my lawn.”

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Super Bowl Advertising — Another Chance For Experts to Miss the Point

Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal article on first-time Super Bowl advertisers begins this way:

Super Bowl viewers will be on the lookout for rookie mistakes — and not just on the field.

Advertising at the big game is a gamble for newcomers not just because of the rising cost of buying the ads — advertisers are paying up to $2.7 million for a 30-second spot this year, up from $2.6 million in 2007 — but also the risk to their reputations if the commercials fall flat or offend.

When the game’s over, there will be articles and polls on which were the “best” and “worst” ads. Most will judge the commercials on artistic merit, missing what should be advertising’s ultimate goal — to sell something.

One advertiser from last year’s game who kept its eye on the prize was SalesGenie, whom I wrote about a few weeks after the game. Just about all the experts hated their commercial. SalesGenie cheerfully accepted the abuse, and kept bringing truckloads of money to the bank.

Here’s another, according to the Journal:

One of last year’s newcomers, Garmin Ltd., the maker of GPS devices, is coming back this year despite coming in low on some ad poll lists with an ad featuring a map that turned into a Godzilla-inspired monster. Reaction “was a mixed bag but it was still a success,” says Ted Gartner, media relations manager at Garmin. “As long as people are spelling our name right and still purchasing the Garmin units, it’s all good.”

 

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.