Posts Tagged ‘Advertising agency’

Beer, beer, and more beer – one man’s marketing obsession

Posted: May 12, 2013 in Business Management, Popular Culture et al
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This ad was printed in 1937. The fancy bottle was the “Steinie.” It was specially made this way so it easy to handle and didn’t take up space in the fridge or icebox. In an interesting bit of trivia (and according to another Schlitz print ad), the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company pioneered the idea of bottling its beer in brown bottles. This was done to keep unwanted light out and keep the freshness of the beer in. The good old days when "a truth well told" was at the core of advertising.

An ad from 1937. The fancy bottle was the “Steinie.” It was specially made this way so it easy to handle and didn’t take up space in the fridge or icebox. In an interesting bit of trivia (and according to another Schlitz print ad), the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company pioneered the idea of bottling its beer in brown bottles. This was done to keep unwanted light out and keep the freshness of the beer in. The good old days when “a truth well told” was at the core of advertising.

Case histories of head-butting brand versus brand challenges are always interesting to advertising and marketing tragics like me … read: tired creaky-jointed ad guy who is old enough to watch Mad Men and wonder “Why are they making a movie of my life? More to the point, why aren’t I getting a royalty? I was that soldier!” … but also to most of you, it appears.

But really: who would spend five long, detailed blogs writing up the story of the beer wars in the United States, focused on the brand he loves, Schlitz and it’s everlasting battle with the likes of Budweiser?

Well, my mate Bill, would.

And it’s a good read, too, packed with heaps to learn for marketing managers and ad agency people and consultants and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all, including avoiding the hubris that also led icon brands like Coke and Fosters-CUB to change the formulas of their brown fizzy water and Victoria Bitter respectively .

http://billsbrainworks.com/beer-wars-the-birth-of-the-brands/

Don’t say I never give you the good stuff.

If Schlitz want to win the beer wars again – and it would be so nice if they could, because I remember drinking it appreciatively when there was only one American burger bar in the whole of the English town I lived in – yes, I go that far back – which was called, with delicious homage to the States “Alice’s Restaurant” – and yes it was actually run by a bird called Alice – well, if Schlitz need a hand, I reckon they should call Bill in for a chat.

What have they got to lose? If passion equates to likely success, Bill’s their man.

Related articles

Advertising F*** Up of the Year, entry number 2 for 2013.

Posted: February 8, 2013 in Popular Culture et al
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What he said.

What he said.

OK. So this always happens. The minute I post a new Advertising F*** Up, my inbox is deluged with other examples.

What does this say about the abilities of the advertising industry worldwide, or it’s quality control levels? It says they are frequently crap, and, er, frequently crap.

Anyhow, we should be grateful for small mercies, because they are very funny and/or cringe inducing. This one falls into the category of “Oh, no, surely that was done in Photoshop, no one would really do that, right?” But as it was Mrs Wellthisiswhatithink that emailed it to me, I think it deserves a run, or I won’t get my tea.

I actually think it could be real, because what I know about the outdoor advertising industry is that it is more than capable of producing “skins” in a factory somewhere and all they are interested in is the technical accuracy of the production run, and not the creative content.

Personally, I once ran a double-page full colour ad for a client that read “Oustanding Value”. It got through our agency quality control process, the client signed off, the magazine quality control process signed off, and, indeed, had been in the public arena for half a week before anyone spotted it.

So without further ado, here is today’s contender. Further comment superfluous.

Yummy

Yummy.

Would you like to know the secret to more successful ads?

Posted: July 24, 2012 in Business Management
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Excuse me? Say what?

Well, I just told you, actually.

It’s as easy as this.This is the good oil. The stuff the ad agencies never tell you, either because they don’t know themselves, or because they’re trying to keep what they do a mystery, so you keep paying squillions for it.

Make your headline a question, not a statement.

See … you’re reading this now, aren’t you? The headline has done it’s job: it’s got you into the body copy, to find the evidence you now know you want.

And here is that evidence. In a survey done by the NRMA in Sydney some years ago, headlines with questions in them were found to be SIX TIMES more effective at gathering a response than headlines that were statements.

So in other words, restrain yourself from saying “We make the best widgets in the world.” Or even “New widget released!”

Instead, say “What would it mean to you if we had invented a better widget?”

Most marketers have never learned this, and consequently blather on about their own products or services intensely and boringly. (And expensively.) Then they wonder why their ads don’t work very hard.

Most ad agencies are now staffed with people who don’t know this too.

If you don’t believe me, run one ad with a question for a headline, and the identical ad with a statement, and see which works best. It’s dead easy to do online now, for example, at virtually no cost, and very easy to track the results.

If your ad agency won’t listen to you when you see that I am right, call me on 0419 290 708, and I’ll re-write your advertising for you so it works harder.

Yes, really. Life sometimes IS that simple.