GPA Advertising Weekly Awards - Feb. 21-28, 2010

AD OF THE WEEK




This weeks pic is a little off the wall. The reason being it gets your attention through so many soft emotional catches that you don't even realize. A little girl, a dog, a mini van, blue collar workers, cornfields, windmills, going green, and so many more. Just watch it again and you will see what I mean.


FLOP OF THE WEEK





Did they record this in one cut? It flopped and it flopped BAD!!

GPA Advertising Weekly Awards - Feb. 14-21, 2010

“AD OF THE WEEK”



WHY was it the best?
An emotional climax is the name of the game in this ad. Wow, excellent song choice along with celebrity appeal. It has a hero, the hero failing, the hero overcoming, and the hero winning. Nike proclaims, "Just do it". I think they "Just DID it".

"FLOP OF THE WEEK"



WHY was it the worst?
McDonalds has always had a trendy theme in their advertising, but NOT with this one. It looks like they let a twelve year old draw a picture and they animated it. In no way did they brand their company, also they had no glaring target with this.

Have any comments? Give us your thoughts on the best/worst of advertising this week.

Pursuing the Triple Crown: Is Your Business a Thoroughbred or an Inefficient Mule?

The problem many businesses face that is addressed in this blog: Having an entrepreneurial mindset with a lack of connection to the customers you serve in a practical way.

Listen to our Podcast below:

Powered by Podbean.com

The Triple Crown boasts the pinnacle of success in many sports. It proves that an athlete’s ability spans the gap separating sheer greatness from the ability to be legendary, encompassing all aspects of success. How can your business achieve a Triple Crown?

There are three functions that are personified in a business:
1. Technician - person who does the actual labor for the business.
Example: The painter for the paint company or the salesman for the insurance agency.
Strengths: They are the arms and legs of the business.
Weaknesses: Often times does not carry the heart of the business and can be paycheck focused.
2. Manager - the overseer of the technician; ensures the work of the business is executed efficiently.
Strengths: skilled at motivating people; talented and understands what the business is trying to accomplish.
Weaknesses: can be power-hungry and make the mistake of assuming their ideas are greater than the entrepreneur's.
3. Entrepreneur - casts the vision for the company; person with the big idea who started the business.
Strengths: understands the business most accurately and is big picture/idea driven.
Weaknesses: tends to overwork the technician and manager; can becomes too attached to their own ideas and will not be
willing to change.

Every role must obtain a perspective of the others and understand the importance of each. In other words, there must be synergy created within the company. The entrepreneur must empower the manager by casting a vision. The manager must then relay the vision to the technician while facilitating logistical responsibilities of day to day business. The technician, which is a vital role in customer relationship management, needs to be the voice of the customers and share from his colleagues perspective what the customer desires from the business. When each position understands the viewpoint of the others, the business will have a better understanding of the short and long term goals and how to achieve them.

Five actions to establish a better view of your technician's perspective:
1. You must become an expert: specific knowledge must be acquired about the product being sold in order to communicate the real nature of what you are selling.
2. You must know your customer: you must understand the individuals that make up your target market, their needs and wants, and how to relate to them.
3. You must understand your product's nature: every product has a unique nature that needs to be capitalized upon in marketing. It is the job of the marketer to discover these characteristics and emphasize them.
4. Instilling fear to make a sale does not work: do not use statistics to threaten a customer into a sale. A relationship built on trust is key in a sustainable marketing relationship.
5. Unique features should be capitalized on: every product needs a distinguishing trait that sets it apart from the others. Find that trait and market it.

What this means to you is that whether you feel you’re a master or in desperate need of help, remember, relationships are the foundation of a successful business. No matter what level your need is, GPA advertising is here to improve your business’ growth, profit, and awareness.

For a free business consultation please email us at info@gpaadvertising.com

OR

Give us a call at (410) 227-1825

Remember you can visit our website: http://www.gpaadvertising.com

Recommended readings for further education on these topics:
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman

Futuristic taglines: can companies predict the future better than consumers?

The tagline of a company says it all. It's their focus. It's their definition. It's what they want to be known for in the world. Corporations that have become house hold names are often accompanied by their tagline. For example, everyone knows the tagline to All State Insurance is "You're in good hands." The best tagline a company can create is one that involves their customer, a positive emotion that is invoked when it is read, and one that focuses on one-to-one marketing, as opposed to one-to-mass (broadcasting).
I have begun to question, however, the effectiveness of companies that attempt to forecast the future in their promotional strategy. Take, for instance, the ice cream company Dippin' Dots. They have been claiming to be "The Ice Cream of the Future" for the past twenty years. I have to ask myself, "When will the future come to be the present, and when will Dippin' Dots be the ice cream that represents that time period?" There are two things about this tagline that are crippling to the company:

1. There is no relevance to the current day and age that we live in, when customers are actually buying: TODAY. There is a disconnect to customers' wants and needs. I would not be surprised to find a customer thinking, "If this is the ice cream of the future, what is the ice cream of today? I want to buy ice cream now that satisfies my desires, not that will be the best ice cream there is ten years from now."
2. There is no connection to the consumer. Nothing in their tagline benefits me as a consumer or connects me to their product.

Statistics show that Dippin' Dots franchises has decreased in numbers over the past years. A declining trend in popularity started in 2006 in the United States with 448 franchises, decreasing to 441 in 2007, and ending with 420 in 2008. They fell from a Franchise 500 rank of #112 in 2008 to #175 in 2009. Could this have anything to do with the fact that no matter how hard we try, tomorrow never comes? Nor does the future.

Corporate communications director Terry Reeves was quoted saying, "Our goal is to increase the number of stores and sales at stores owned by existing franchisees, and we of course want additional franchisees to open stores in new locations." This seems to be an unmeasurable, non sustainable goal that has no numbers, benchmarks, or an action plan to accompany it. I would venture to say that if Dippin' Dots continues to claim to be the ice cream of the future, their company and all franchisees involved may not have a future of their own.

Did you like this article or have thoughts or comments you'd like to share? Email jen@gpaadvertising.com and let us know.

Has Jeep's advertising techniques limited is target market?

We all know that one of the first steps in the marketing process is finding your target market. But when finding the target market we need to make sure that market is not too narrow. Too narrow of a target market can cut other markets off from being attracted to your product. According to Entrepreneur.com, a target market can be defined as "a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services." You don't want to limit your customer base by the way that you market to your target market.



For example, We think Jeep has hurt itself over the years by the way its line of vehicles have been marketed. Jeep has driven home the concept that its SUV are great off-road vehicles - but how big of a market can that really relate to? Women (for the most part) aren't going to be inclined to by a vehicle because it performs well off-road. Women (again, for the most part) need a vehicle that helps them accomplish their everyday tasks. Jeeps have become more and more luxurious and meet the needs of a larger market over the last few years, but Jeep has yet to emphasize this in the marketing campaigns. I think it's great that Jeep has separated itself from other vehicle manufactures by pushing the "off-road" features, but what if they started incorporating another marketing strategy into the current one in order to show all sides of the Jeep brand?


How would you market a Jeep? Would you do away with the current campaign and fall back into mainstream automobile advertising? Does Jeep have it right?

Did you like this post? Email kyle@gpaadvertising.com

How did potentially great Super Bowl ads lose their buzz?

During the Super Bowl we tweeted (@LemonAdBlog) about there being a strange trend among some of the commercials. On three separate occasions, two commercials were played back-to-back that had a very similar style. All of the commercials were very well done, but they lost some of their glamor due to the spot they were run in. Here's what we mean:

#1: Mars' Snickers vs. Focus on the Family





#2: CareerBuilder.com vs. Dockers





#3: Dr. Pepper vs. Tru TV





Do you see the similarities? Wouldn't you be upset if your company spent 2.6 million dollars for a 30 second spot only to have it's predecessor have the same concept behind its ad? Did the second ad seem weak compared to the first ad due to the similar content?

Leave a comment or email kyle@gpaadvertising.com

Super Bowl XLIV's Top 5 Commercials

#5 - Bud Light



#4 - Mars' Snickers



#3 - CareerBuilder.com



#2 - Dodge



#1 - Google



Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment or email kyle@gpaadvertising.com

Purple Elephants & Awkward Turtles

What if…

1.) You had unlimited funds to expand your business?
2.) You had an unlimited list of client contacts that wanted your product?
3.) You knew the solution to solve the economic problems inside your industry?

Can you answer these questions? What would you do if they came true?

If you answers included the following:

a.) Hmm. I don’t know what I would do.
b.) That will never happen.
c.) No one has this answer.

THEN you are CRAZY!!!

Ideas are what drive market strategy. Thinking beyond the impossible, makes the possible easier to face.

If your not asking yourself these questions on an hourly basis then you need to. Creativity is birthed out of letting your mind travel into the problems and questions that everyone thinks are unsolvable. These are called uncontrollable variables.

Remember! Any objection and problem will disappear in the face of a good idea. Good ideas are what will get your business out of this down turn. Good ideas are what will position you to drive the market and not follow it.

Equation
What if..

Your company had good ideas?

Solution
Competitive Advantage. Which equals extra zeros!

Did you enjoy this post? Email jake@gpaadvertising.com

SNL parody keeps UPS's ad campaign in the spotlight.

UPS's successful "whiteboard" advertising campaign was working it's way out of the door... until Saturday Night Live stepped in. This campaign, created by Andy Azula (a creative director for The Martin Agency), has been running on television since 2007 and has captivated audiences with various "whiteboard marker" skills. SNL started running sketches at the end of 2009 that mocked the commercials in a fun, playful manner. In no way did SNL attempt to make fun of UPS (the company). My point is - was this necessarily a bad thing for UPS? It's almost as if the ad campaign caught a fresh wind. At the end of the day people are still talking about UPS! It's free advertising for them. Now of course the copy in the parody ads isn't anything like what is run in the real ones, but UPS's name is still being advertised... for free.

Here's an example of one of the real UPS ads:



Now, here is SNL's version (featuring Bill Hader):



It would be interesting to see how these parodies have affected sales. I would be extremely surprised to see a negative response. Personally, I enjoyed the whiteboard ads and I continue to enjoy them. As elementary as they are - they work. The visual aspect of the ad campaign was unprecedented. Since these ads have been running since 2007 UPS needed something to reenergize the campaign and SNL did that. Do you think that UPS should thank SNL for running these sketches? Did you find the ad campaign effective before you saw SNL's? Do you have the same opinion of UPS after seeing SNL's version? Let us know.

Did you find this post useful? Email kyle@gpaadvertising.com

Social Networks: Is the NCAA, NBA, and NFL too harsh or are the athletes to blame?

The use of Facebook and Twitter has skyrocketed in the past years. Millions of people log onto these social networks every day. Just about everyone participates in this new era of social networking, from children to business professionals. So, why is it a big deal if professional and collegiate athletes use them?

College athletes who use social networks have probably been using them since they were in high school. You can post just about anything you want to on these social networks- music, games, pictures, notes, etc. The page is meant to reflect who you are as a person. The NCAA has a strict set of rules regarding social network postings. For this reason, athletes should be more aware of what they and how their fellow peers posts could reflect poorly on their lifestyle choices. There have been numerous accounts where athletes have been suspended due to a violation of NCAA rules because of inappropriate postings on Facebook and Twitter. Many coaches are now trying to regulate their athletes’ use of social networks, and are going as far as banning their players from the use of these social networks.

In today’s world, the use of social networking is common place in every arena of life. Professional athletes use both of these websites to inform friends and followers of ongoing and upcoming events. There have been incidents in both the NBA and NFL of players using Twitter during half time. Due to those occurrences, both associations have issued a policy banning Twitter use before and after the game. Even though the NCAA, NBA, and the NFL are fully aware of athletes using Facebook and Twitter, they question the necessity of these postings and continue to observe and regulate athletes' use.

Social networking, undeniably, is growing at an exponential rate. It is the athletes' responsibility to be aware of what is posted about them on their accounts, as well as fellow teammates. If properly used, Facebook and Twitter can be an excellent networking tool. Inappropriate postings can cause repercussions to the point of dismal. As a result, if the athletes choose to have an account on either of these social networks, it is ultimately the responsibility of the individual athlete to uphold a professional image. A Mature player will realize their behavior reflects not only the image of the individual, but also of their respective university and team.

Want to hear more? Email kyron@gpaadvertising.com

Can businesses survive Obamism?

Has the White House "lost its way" along the "Yes we can" brick road?

During President Obama's State of the Union address to the country last night, many things were said that ruffled the feathers of some small business owners. Some were delighted to hear his comments. And many more will eagerly anticipate what concrete actions will follow to bring to pass what the president has promised.

Many Americans who supported Barack Obama in the beginning of his term are now coming to question his decision making ability and intuition. This is not a bash on the president or the White House. It is simply meant to be an opportunity to refresh our mind set. Can small businesses really pull through with the potential health care bill and lack of concern for unemployment?

According to the Wall Street Journal, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) stated, "The American people were looking for President Obama to change course tonight, and they got more of the same job-killing policies instead." Obama acknowledged that not enough had been done for the unemployed of the country. Although admitting a problem is the first step in solving, does this mean anything beneficial will be done to change the situation?

After the speech, much was left unsaid, uncommitted to, and unaddressed fully. It is now time for skeptical business owners to take a stand and fight apathy. In order to win the "war on capitalism" as it seems, business owners must stay informed, aware, and more importantly innovative. The age to come for America is going to be one of new channels and mediums for advertising, production, customer service, and more.

Check out this article and determine for yourself whether the change in the White House that was promised has been a change for the good, or worse along with what is to come.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703410004575029642919149072.html

Was this article beneficial, thought provoking, or more? Email jen@gpaadvertising.com and tell me about it.

YouTube used as platform for advertising campaigns.

YouTube continues to becoming a great tool for advertising agencies. Now companies can test the popularity of an advertisement without having to pay a cent.

Now, in case you don't understand the vastness that is YouTube.com - let us put it in some perspective. As of October 2009, YouTube serves over 1,200,000,000 videos per day/worldwide. That's at least 11,574 views per second, 694,444 views per minute, and 41,666,667 views per hour. YouTube has a 40% share in the US multimedia entertainment market and accounts for 60% percent of the videos watched online.

Jack Link's Beef Jerky has taken advantage of this opportunity by posting their commercials on YouTube about 5 years ago. See what happens when you search 'Sasquatch' on Google - You'll find Jack Link's "Messin' with Sasquatch" commercial to be one of the top 5 entries (these ad's were created by Minneapolis advertising agency Carmichael Lynch). After receiving over 4,000,000 views on YouTube, Jack Link's started to run these ads on television. Here's one of the very popular commercials:

However, this strategy may not work with all marketing campaigns. Part of the success of this video can be attributed to it's comedic nature. We will see this happen in a reversed process after the Super Bowl this year. Many of the popular, funny commercials that are shown during the game will make their way onto YouTube and will continue to flourish and be effective long after the game is over. Here's an example of an advertisement that was run during last year's game and continues to have success on the Internet:

Was this article useful? Email kyle@gpaadvertising.com

Time: the ONLY thing worth more than money...

The world today completely revolves around one thing: money.

In some people’s lives, their sole pursuit and definition of success is found in how much money they make. Money is a requirement for all the necessities of life: water, clothing, food, and shelter. Life seems to evolve more around money than it does the air we breathe.

In business, money is what we exist for. It's what we compete for. It's what we die for. But we are making sacrifices of many things, even our lives, for an idea called money. For what reason when there is something worth so much more? TIME.

To put it in perspective, we wake up according to time and we schedule according to time. We cannot control time; time has been before us and will exist after us. TIME is Money! People live for money but then NEED time. People give MONEY but we don’t give TIME; it is too valuable. We only have 24 one hour segments of time every single day. We are not sure if we will have those same opportunities again tomorrow.

Which is more important in your life and business?

“Those who find true success find it when they have TIME to enjoy it.”

Was this article useful? Email jake@gpaadvertising.com