RIP, bad creative

June 5, 2012 Leave a Comment

 

With Memorial Day weekend behind us, we’re in a sentimental mood—sort of—thinking about creative that needs to be buried, declared dead, terminal with no DNR, no headstone.

 

None of it is ours, natch.

 

First, some housekeeping notes in this cemetery: we define “bad creative” (isn’t that an oxymoron?) as creative that does not:

  • generate response
  • help move product or awareness
  • is downright nasty/bad taste/a waste of the reader’s time

 

And no, we are showing no pictures nor are we naming names of said bad creative because we prefer not to invite any ill will toward our creative judges.

 

The list of the top ten “Bad Creative” we’ve seen goes like this:

 

10. The recent direct mail kit featuring a radial map-enabled guide to cemeteries and crematoria options for buying a plot or booking a cremation. Even we think this is ghoulish. (Can you feel the burn?)

9.  The endless trend toward postcards in direct mail. News flash to cost-conscious marketers: despite being our vet or dentist, we’re throwing you out.

8.  What we’ll euphemistically refer to as “men’s pharma” media advertising.  Watching television with a child has become an interesting game of dodgem thanks to the proliferation of performance anxiety/enhancement meds and their leave-nothing-to-the-imagination level of frankness. None of them stands out (apologies) due to the plethora of devices, dosages and delirium-inducing delivery of their benefits and hilarious side effects.

7. Magazine ads/inserts for perfumes with no scent strip. Come ON! This is how we get to sample the smell beforehand.

6. Airport baggage-claim machine ads. Isn’t this the most frustrating part of the overall frustrating process known as air travel? Placing ads on the annoying, slow and problem-plagued monolith that spits out and circulates our luggage seems desperate and ill-advised.  What next, security-frisking brought to you by Coca-Cola?

5. Mailings with heavy product brochures. Even the phone book has gone digital. Today, there’s not enough money and no excuse for such old-school tactics.

4.  Anything with big, ugly, QR codes. If we use them, we make them creatively unique so they work within a client’s overall brand. We’re already moving on to the Next Big Thing.

3. Direct mail or other creative with repeated personalization over and over and over of a prospect’s name prospects’ prospect’s name. (See, isn’t it annoying?)

2. Advertising of any sort co-opting the trendy slang of the functionally illiterate.  Copywriters of the world, rise up to heave your potent prose onto the masses of the breathlessly dumbed-down hordes!!! Forsooth!!! Bring on those 25 cent words, a 15 cent raise from the “Really?” headlines of late. Millennials may be a prime target audience, but even they recognize pandering when they see it/sense it/discover it’s been texted to them.

 

And the #1 Bad Creative is…

 

1. Anything political. Don’t we all just want to take a shower afterward?

 

That wasn’t so good now, was it?

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Direct Choice Inc. is a full-service direct marketing agency that has worked with national and regional brands in a wide variety of vertical markets. In addition to this blog, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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Integrated Marketing Communications

April 24, 2012 Leave a Comment

 

“Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive marketing communications programs over time with consumers, customers, prospects, employees and other targeted, relevant, external and internal audiences.  The goal is to generate both short-term financial returns and build long-term brand and shareholder value.” – Schultz and Schultz, 2004

 

Pretty heady stuff, yes … BUT … eight years later the same philosophy applies even though different forms of digital communications are exploding on the scene.  It’s now clear that consumers have gained control of the marketplace, particularly in the communications area. They’ve determined what they want to see, hear, and process − and when.

 

It used to be said that you have less than 3 seconds to get someone’s attention when they receive your Direct Mail piece.  But with the arrival of over 206 social media sites worldwide (that doesn’t include the defunct ones) the consumer’s attention span is shorter than ever.  (Did you know that there is even one called vampirefreaks!  There are more than 1.9MM registered users!  Really?!?)

 

Each of these (maybe not the vampire one) competes directly with traditional forms of marketing communications for the time and attention of consumers, creating a new and more challenging issue for traditional direct marketers.  Simply put, integration becomes not an integration of existing media forms but the integration of old and new media forms.

 

One of the primary challenges is that most marketing organizations are structured to talk, not to listen. Hearing what consumers have to say is, in many cases, a totally new concept to marketers who are accustomed to being in control.  We’re used to communicating to them when we think it’s appropriate for them to hear our message. Clearly, in a marketplace where consumers now drive the dialog, it becomes critical for marketers to listen.

So now what do we do?  One area which marketing has not fully addressed is how to overcome our favoritism to the 4Ps (Product, Price, Placement, Promotion) that permeates all marketing and communication concepts.  Our practices supported by consumer behavior were developed and matured in a sophisticated, media rich, data intensive market where resources were readily available and managers had extensive marketing and communication training.

The switch to a totally integrated, push and pull, online and offline approach is required. Consumers have already made that leap but we marketers are finding it difficult.  We always look for empirical data saying it “will” work so we can assure our clients that it “will” work.  Getting the first client to take the leap into the Social Pool requires a lot of coaxing, a life-jacket, some swimmies and maybe a snorkel.

To be really relevant to customers and prospects going forward, marketers need to LISTEN, develop new concepts and approaches based on what the consumer is doing, where and when. That is where I believe the future of Integrated Marketing lies.  Jump in folks, the water is fine.

 

Christine Wagner

 

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Direct Choice Inc. is a full-service direct marketing agency that has worked with national and regional brands in a wide variety of vertical markets. In addition to this blog, you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

 

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