The Most Powerful Words Are Unspoken
When you say it in your ad, the audience is as likely to dismiss it as accept it. When you cause the audience to say it in their heads, it’s automatically, unquestionably accepted.
Turn Your Business into a Loveable Money-Making Machine (Part 1/2)
Most businesses practice Transactional Reactive Marketing to varying degrees. It’s why most marketing disappoints or fails.
Writing Car Ads That Don’t Suck
The day Rick posted his 2003 Ford F 350 on Kijiji (a weird Canadian Craigslist), there were 66 other listings for the exact same truck. Rick’s rig sold in 23 minutes...to a Texan.
Sizzle is a Sound Effect
"Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak” — or so says Elmer Wheeler. And if you’re in marketing or sales, either you like that phrase, or rather strenuously object to it. Those who object say things like "If you sell sizzle without the steak you’re a con artist."
How Brandable Chunks Guarantee Brand Consistency | Wizard’s Roundtable
Without a consistent theme, you probably don't even have a campaign. And then at that point, what are you doing? You're not branding. You're not bonding.
Advertising Effectiveness: 50 Years of Research Distilled to Top 10 Most Important Elements
All the data including marketing spend, sales numbers, profit margins, etc.
Story Appeal, Attitude, and Branding
Shared values and tribes are the life blood of bonding campaigns. And you can’t have attitude without a point of view.
McMann & Tate: Worst Ad Agency Ever
Howard McMann once said of his partner, “He’s slippery, he lies beautifully, and he has a great head of hair.” Legend has it, Tate once told a subordinate “If the client loves it, I love it! If the client hates it, I hate it!”
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.
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.
Good For Sheep, Bad For Business
Sheep are best known for their strong flocking (herding) and following instinct. They will run from what frightens them and band together in large groups for protection. This is the only protection they have from predators.
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?
What Advertising Can & Cannot Do
If your message is relevant, memorable and delivered frequently customers will come. And the better your message and media strategy, the more and more customers will come.
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.
For All Your (Fill in the blank) Needs
When we hear cliches (and believe me, “For all your ____ needs” is the worst kind of adspeak) our minds simply switch off; we ignore them.