Philanthropy: You’re Doing it Weird
“How about we make an ad that says, ‘we’ll give 10% of our profits this weekend to Save the Bunnies?’” Wait a second. Let’s pick that apart...
A Secret Path to Branding Ads that Actually Work
"Like McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. ads showed a big, nicely stacked burger on TV. Unlike McDonald’s, however, Carl’s Jr. would then deliver a charbroiled product that looked like a sloppy, drippy mess."
Emotional, Rational, or Aspirational? Yes, Please!
How exactly did appealing to the whole person fall out of fashion in advertising? Somewhere along the lines, people began to separate out Reason-Why or logic-driven ads from emotionally galvanizing ads.
Happiness is a fish YOU can catch.
Stop worrying about the colour of your logo, the size of your ad, or the shares on Facebook. When it comes to business, your job is to sell happiness. And the best happiness that is long lasting and unbreakable is through the use of Oxytocin.
Six Ways to Differentiate Your Company and Win Over Your Competition.
These are product, service, channels of distribution, relationships, reputation/image, and price. However, not all differentiation strategies are equally effective.
Most People Don’t Know Most Businesses
I haven’t met you and I already know you have an awareness problem. A sloppy ad-slinger will gloss over awareness. It’s treated as a “given.”
Cubicalls: Press Pause
"Is this that transactional-relational thing?" “I think so. Her business should be relational." “Why?" "We’ve been taking Buffy to our groomer for 10 years. You ever bathed and brushed a Bichon? Our groomer isn’t the cheapest. But I never miss an appointment."
5 Things Your AdWords Person Should Be Doing
Google didn't tell anybody when they started feeding everybody's business ads over onto their video game platforms. So the impression count went up, the clicks went up. But they're all useless.
10 Basic Truths of Advertising, Part Deux
The things we are hardwired to find unignorable and “fascinating” involve the (mostly social) triggers first discussed and popularized by Sally Hogshead.
Grow Your Business With a Courageous Offer
Yes a few customers will take advantage. Get over it. A Courageous Offer opens up the customer floodgates. The money of the many will wash away the bad taste of a few.
10 Basic Truths of Advertising, Part 1
America has always sorted its mail over a trashcan, and now just as ruthlessly sorts, filters, and dismisses every other incoming stimuli. Modern life demands it.
Are Your Ads Missing Hope? | Wizard’s Roundtable
You need all four... (1) A Big Idea (2) Nuts and Bolts (3) Entertainment (4) Hope. The last is the easiest to overlook… but it’s the most important.
Cubicalls: The Cancellation
"Yeah, they were on for 6 months. But they don't want to renew. Some employees bought the business. She said they'd think about it in the spring.” "What business?" "That HVAC outfit. We had some great ads."
9 Things to Remember When Scheduling Media for Business Growth
1. Allow the same listener to hear the same ad at least 3 times every 7 nights sleep (sleep erases advertising)
“How do we modernize our marketing?” [AMA]
There’s a real danger in the word “modernizing” your marketing because we tend to immediately leap towards thoughts like, “Well, I need to be on Snapchat.”