Wants vs Needs
There is a very good chance that they are not functioning well. They may be living in a place of discomfort, fear, or even desperation.
Mistakes aren’t wrong. Wrong isn’t a mistake.
Makers of ads push their chairs back and say “yeahhh…now that’s smooooooth.” …while your customer sliiiides right off.
Creating Story Appeal On Demand (Part 2)
Attitude imbalances are the most useful for advertising — especially for branding — because they speak to and most directly reveal personality, character, and values.
Radio’s Missing Creative Revolution
Radio never teamed up copywriters with sound producers to create great ads that pushed Theatre of the Mind to full effect and that were more than the sum of their parts.
Making Better Recruitment Ads | Wizard’s Roundtable
How you recruit can say a lot about your company to both prospective employees and prospective customers alike. Some tips: As with any advertising, involve the applicant. It's not about money. Use current employees.
Story —> Attention —> Sale (Part 1)
If you try to buy attention without a story, you’ll strike out. This is what happens to most advertising and marketing efforts. People buy “exposure” via advertising and presume that they’ve also purchased attention...
The High-Impact 10X Advantage; Share of Voice vs. Share of Mind
What if you broadcast a flaming, un-ignorable ad that hits people between the eyes?
Why Making the Ads Is the Last Thing We Do
This substantive style of advertising (started by Ally & Gargano and continued by Scali, McCabe, Sloves) tripled US sales of Volvos.
Substance Over Style
Every ad has style and substance, cheese and meat. Most ads are cheese because ad writers are rarely given meat. Style cheese includes layout, angle, tone of voice and hyperbole. Substance meat is provable fact and concrete detail.
Targeting Through Ad Copy
Attract the kind of clients who will see your business as a blessing. Clients that prefer you to the point of willingly paying a premium for the privilege.
Can Politics Make Your Advertising Better? Yes! Just Not In the Way You Think…
Want to be able to charge a fat premium for your services and have people willingly pay it?
Two Kinds of Decision-Making
Most of the people going to Starbucks aren’t making a cost-benefit decision. They’re making an identity-based decision.
The Marriage of Teamwork and Character Diamonds
Myrtle Beach One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning grew 42.4% in 2019, from $10.5M to $15.2 million.
Same Same Sameity Same Same
City dwellers stop hearing the traffic and sirens out their windows. Psychologists call this “habituation.” Marketers call this the enemy.
Images, “Truthiness,” and Forced Participation
Recent psychological studies show that statements accompanied by related images are considered more believable than the same statement without an image.