Although my 18 year old son would balk at being called a child, truth is, he still is in many ways—many of them good. We were always taught in creative classes to look at life through “child-like” eyes—not “childish,” ‘child-like.” BIG difference. And so it is with Perry when we engage in conversations about advertising, reality television, branding, and other work related topics that we discuss often. He has a real creative streak and of late, I have been “testing” him to see if he can turn his creativity “on and off” based on a particular subject or “product” that I throw out to him. So I was fascinated when I found this article on the Planning Lab blog. It’s about how good 9 year olds are at creating ads. I’m sure they work cheaper, too! PS– you don’t really need to try to read the ads– they are in Swedish.
The Brief: Draw an ad for BMW or Mini. Write a slogan – why buy a BMW/Mini?
Tools and Deadline: A piece of paper, pens and 15 minutes.
Ideas
1. “Buy a BMW/Mini. So much power for real men.”
Account planner comment: power and masculinity becomes the proposition of this ad. A clear call to action. Buy the damn car!
Photo by daliborlevYou can do a great job constructing a badly designed house. But when you are through, you’ve still got a badly designed house. Right? It doesn’t matter how good you are with a hammer if the blueprints themselves are faulty. Ads are like houses.
It doesn’t matter how good you are with nouns or verbs when the core message is boring. There is no good way to tell a bad story. And ultimately, it’s the core message of your campaign that determines the success of your advertising.
Give a powerful core message to an average writer and the little business on the corner can leap from Main Street to Wall Street. But give an average message to a powerful writer and ….yeah, you get it.
Photo by seier+seier+seierA lot of people are looking for change right now. If you currently work with an advertising agency, spend just a few moments thinking about the following questions and your responses to them. We believe that any answer you may have that equals “less than exceeds most expectations” may be an opportunity for a new more productive relationship. A prospect we’d welcome exploring.
1) Overall how do you rate your agency’s creative team on your business?
2) Does your agency appoint sufficiently qualified creative talent to meet your needs in?
Photo by Photocapy Photo by Photocapy Photo by PhotocapyThis is an innovative move on Coca-Cola’s part. By introducing its well-known carbonated drink in a smaller size, the soft drink giant is ensuring it resonates with consumers who are watching what they eat and how many calories they’re consuming.
The 7.5-fluid-oz can is red with a white image of a Coke bottle, and will be available in eight packs. Other brands will be available in 90-calorie cans, including Sprite, Fanta Orange, Cherry Coca-Cola, and Barq’s Root Beer.
The new can will roll out in Washington, D.C. and New York City in December and is expected to launch throughout the rest of the country by March 2010.
But Coca-Cola isn’t alone in marrying portion-control with a package overahaul. According to Mintel’s Packaging Trends in Food and Drink – U.S.- March 2009 report, some brands are taking a holistic approach to health and completely overhauling their packaging to better convey the product’s health qualities.
Kraft’s Crystal Light brand has introduced environmentally friendly beverage packaging that features a new 1-quart packet size in the 8-quart canister. The new design helps consumers control how much they want to drink. A window on the front of the canister also shows when packets are running low.
In addition to introducing the 90-calorie mini can, Coca-Cola has announced plans to display calorie information on the front of most of its beverage packages, including Sprite, Powerade, and Full Throttle. This tactic will resonate well with soda drinkers, as they will be able to see how many calories are in their favorite drink so they can adjust their diet accordingly.
Coca-Cola is giving consumers who have moved away from traditional CSDs a reason to come back: portion control. But the interesting – it’s cute! – packaging is also giving its brand fans something new – both to talk about and to consume.
As a lot of my friends and business colleagues know, my oldest son is currently in the process of getting his driver’s license; ad guy by day, dad and driver’s instructor by night. One of the things we have been practicing without fail on a daily basis is parallel parking. When I was 15 years old, my grandmother was my driving coach and she taught me a few “tricks” about rearview mirrors, side mirrors and the blind spot just over your right shoulder as a way to glide any car into the parking space with just the three maneuvers you can have during your parking test. With a little practice and these little tips, my son has parallel parking down.
But what about business? Yes, your business and some of the tips and tricks necessary these days to make the most of your marketing dollars and keep you within the space allotted without bumping or hitting the curbs? Blind spots in cars are easy to identify. Blind spots in our businesses aren’t so easy. Why—because if we could see them, they wouldn’t be blind spots. Here are a few common blind spots I see in businesses with which I consult: Continue Reading »
Although my 18 year old son would balk at being called a child, truth is, he still is in many ways—many of them good. We were always taught in creative classes to look at life through “child-like” eyes—not “childish,” ‘child-like.” BIG difference. And so it is with Perry when we engage in conversations about advertising, reality television, branding, and other work related topics that we discuss often. He has a real creative streak and of late, I have been “testing” him to see if he can turn his creativity “on and off” based on a particular subject or “product” that I throw out to him. So I was fascinated when I found this article on the Planning Lab blog. It’s about how good 9 year olds are at creating ads. I’m sure they work cheaper, too! PS– you don’t really need to try to read the ads– they are in Swedish.
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