Seth's Blog : Self-starters, needed

Self-starters, needed

The self starter creates a spark, turning nothing, or what certainly appears to everyone else as nothing, into something.

The self starter doesn't see it that way. That 'nothingness' was actually an opportunity, a chance to make a connection, to do something a little better than the status quo, to get things moving.

Has there ever been a project, an institution or a community that hasn't needed that?

 

       

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• Big company advertising
• Features and marginal cost in the digital age
• Most projects end with a whimper
• Speed is relative
• Expectation is the brand killer

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Seth's Blog : Big company advertising

Big company advertising

American Airlines doesn't know what to say.

And they're having a lot of trouble saying it.

They're making a fortune this year due to low oil prices, and one way to manage shareholder expectations for the future is to put some of that profit into brand advertising. And so, they hired a fancy ad agency and started to run full-page, two-sided, glossy inserts in newspapers. The single ad I'm looking at cost at least $100,000. And I might be one of a hundred people who are actually reading it.

The copy-dense ad includes references to babies, red-eyes, noise, middle seats, lessons learned, 'relinquish', making the best of the situation and the ability to sleep anywhere. All told in an odd third-person, referring to the hero as "they" not "you." 

With a layout that's so confusing that there's a big arrow that says "start here".

Some things worth remembering:

• Ads can still work, especially ads with consistent budgets, excellent copywriting, smart frequency and a thoughtful strategy. Easier said than done.
• Great products work far better than great ads do. And the key part of a great service-based product is service, which is totally up to you, the marketer.
• Direct marketing is measured, brand marketing is long-term and aspirational.
• Simple test for brand marketing: If I can substitute one company for another and have the ad still make sense, it's not a good ad.

For thirty years, the airlines have relentlessly trained travelers to spend as little as possible on a seat, offering generic alternatives and contemptuous, confusing pricing policies. To blame the state of travel on the passenger ("Let's move that conversation from us and turn it onto them..." said Fernand Fernandez, VP of global marketing at AA) doesn't feel like the foundation for a great marketing campaign, does it?

The lesson for anyone spending money on ads: it pays to be consistent, generous and thoughtful when you build an ad campaign.

[Posted from LGA. /rant]

       

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More Recent Articles

• Features and marginal cost in the digital age
• Most projects end with a whimper
• Speed is relative
• Expectation is the brand killer
• Demand guardrails

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Seth's Blog : Features and marginal cost in the digital age

Features and marginal cost in the digital age

Good, better and best were the three price points.

Organizations had an easy way to distinguish between their various products. Adding more features cost more money, and so the Cadillac cost more than the Chevy.

Customers learned to associate more features with more expense with more luxury and exclusivity. And manufacturers were always on the lookout to add a feature that consumers valued more than the marginal cost of adding that feature.

In the digital age, all of this thinking goes out the window.

How much does it cost a car company to display the temperature outside? Well, it used to mean wiring a circuit, adding a sensor, creating a display. Now, it might cost them $1 (if that) to add that feature to a $40,000 car.

Even more radically, the marginal cost of just about every feature on a website or an app is precisely zero. Program it once and you can give it to everyone. The 'good' version is merely the 'best' version with some software turned off, which is fine if you don't have any competition.

Good, better, best is going to have to start being based on something else.

       

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More Recent Articles

• Most projects end with a whimper
• Speed is relative
• Expectation is the brand killer
• Demand guardrails
• In pursuit of cheap

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