Marketing – it's made of people!

During a recent kick-off meeting for a project, I was talking with a client about setting up phone interviews with current customers. I wanted to talk directly with some customers to find out what they really think about the client's services.

A product manager at the table played down the need to talk with the customer base. "After all," he said, "It's just B-to-B."

We were working on a video to help promote and expand a key business market for our client. The audience for our video was indeed a corporate market.

"It is B-to-B, "the project manager commented, "But that business is made up of people." 

A simple yet telling comment. We often forget that we're talking to people with our marketing messages. Not "30-45 year old men with an advance degree who make more than $100,000 a year", but real individuals. That demographic information is invaluable, but some research is necessary to make sure that we're reaching them in an effective and profound way.

Are you speaking to your audience in their language? Do you understand what they really want or need to hear?

Super Bowl Ads 3 months later...

Think quick - what companies advertised during this year's Super Bowl?

Can't name many, can you?

If I'd paid $2.7 million for a thirty second spot, I wouldn't be pleased.

This year's game was a classic (unless you're a Patriot's fan) – and viewers stayed with the game until the very end. That's what advertisers hope for when they spend big bucks for their spots. And that $2.7 million just covers ad time for the spot. It doesn't include the creative, the production, the special effects or talent fees (wonder what it costs to get Justin Timberlake to do a spot?)

So what's wrong with these spots? To me, the focus is on making them memorable – cute concepts or special effects that don't tie back to the product or brand. It seems that some advertisers forget that it's all about making a connection – making people remember you, your company or your product.

I'm not opposed to funny spots. I loved the Bridgestone spots (would I have thought twice about running Richard Simmons over?) and thought they were some of the most successful.

What do you think? Did you enjoy the spots or do you want those thirty second chunks of your life back? Need to jog your memory? You can see all of the ads here.

Brainstorming

I was talking to a designer recently about the creative process. Her favorite part of any project is brainstorming. I agree. It’s an opportunity to really think freely and play off each other’s ideas.

We do this often when starting projects. We look at the available materials, the audience, the message and we let the ideas come. It’s incredibly exciting to be in that flow – you come up with an idea, someone else picks up on a little detail and takes it somewhere else, and then someone builds upon that idea. There’s a lot of energy in the room at that moment. And everyone knows when you’ve hit upon an idea that could work.

As an example, a long distance company was looking for a commercial for their calling plan. The plan was called “Triple Play”. We started talking about things that come in threes, which led to “good things come in threes” which led to ideas about poker (three of a kind), which ultimately led us to the idea of a slot machine. The client wanted to promote the idea of big savings. A visual of dollar bills coming out of a slot machine sealed the deal.