Learning from the Legends: Yes, Virginia, It Really Is That Simple!
Marlboro was a failed filtered cigarette brand, marketed to women with the slogan “Mild as May”
Beer And Headaches And That Awful Cramping
Chuck Blore's study for CBS found that advertising makes beer taste better. I believe it makes pain manageable, too.
Demonstration Ads — Part Deux.
Demonstration ads are like testimonial ads. They demand more of the advertiser and the creative team, but they're persuasive magic.
Cowards, Cow-words and tails between your legs
Are you writing ads with your tail between your legs? If you’re not acting like the young bull with nothing to lose, someone else is.
Coke – they already had an empire, but…
No matter how big you are, no matter how much you spend, and even if you are the best marketers on the planet; you cannot bend the consumer to your will.
Learning from the Legends: What Can’t be Questioned?
Immediately following the launch of the Mr. Whipple campaign Charmin displaced Scott as the #1 brand in America.
Gaggia Espresso Machines had a problem
This is a lesson of overcoming resistance to new innovations. What to do with unwanted oily film? The answer built an empire and even changed how fine espresso is judged.
Distinctiveness vs. Differentiation vs. Bonding
Branding aims at de-commodification: getting the customer to see you as the better, worthier option. And there are three ways of pursuing this goal.
The Biggest Waste in Advertising (a Case Study)
Advertising in the bigger community to draw customers to your smaller community is as futile as trying to make the water in a river defy gravity.
An interview with a small business that applied the Wrigley formula
He does not sell gum. He sells used RVs and he applied the lessons from Wrigley’s and is growing like crazy.
“Emotional” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means
“Emotional campaigns are 30% more likely than rational campaigns to show large profit effects" — Binet & Field, The Long and Short of It
The birth of Play-doh. A cleaning agent becomes a toy.
Observing how your customer is using your products can lead to new product ideas and maybe even save your company.
Magical Thinking, Branding, and Chevy’s Christmas Ad
Your love for this small piece of commercial art, which you’ll likely share with others, can’t help but partially rub off onto Chevy.
Get rid of all the bells and whistles. The Birth of the Sony Walkman
It lacked all the things people wanted but gave them one thing they had not thought about. And a star is born.
Zen and the Art of Persuasion. Part 3 of 3
People avoid risk on three levels. The biggest risk is that they’ll purchase the wrong solution – that they’ll have spent the money and still have the problem.