Image via Wikipedia Some of my friends have had accomplished careers in advertising, and I’ve picked up more than a few things from them along the way. Experience is a good teacher, and I feel fortunate to be able to piggy back on theirs. Here are a few tidbits.
- The client is not always right, but convincing him/her of that is one of the toughest parts of the business.
- Ideas, no matter how alluring, must be validated by research before committing to a campaign.
- The best ideas are simple, perhaps even obvious (after the fact).
- Companies with effective advertising really, really understand their customers.
- Successful advertisers go to great lengths to understand their clients’ business. Sometimes they come to understand the business better than the clients themselves, which can lead to tension.
This is probably common knowledge to anyone inside advertising, but it’s been quite helpful to me, particularly in understanding the dynamics that come into play when discussing writing and marketing issues with a client. Anything that rounds out and broadens your business perspective is worth knowing.
So I wonder — What have you learned about business outside your specialty that helps you inside your specialty?
(This post is part of Middle Zone Musing’s What I Learned From My Friends group project.)
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Good statements, all, Brad. I especially focused on #2 this morning, as it’s one I’m about to employ with our client. Although I prefer to state it this way: Get your ducks in a row!
Wish me luck!
Robert, Good luck! Armed with point number 2, how can you miss?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..What I Learned from My Friends about Advertising
Hi Brad: I have learnt that effective advertising on a mediocre product versus poor advertising on a great product usually leads to commercial success of the former. To share with everyone, I have come to realize from other businesses outside of mine, that advertising and promotion is seldom taken seriously in the product development stages which can lead to poor performance in the market place. Simply see the tremendous efforts that Coca-Cola or Proctor and Gamble place on advertising. Thank you.
Raj, I think you are right. Many good products never find their market because not enough people hear about them. Good marketing companies like P&G probably have a marketing plan before they even engineer the new product.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..What I Learned from My Friends about Advertising
I agree with Raj’s comment. In my home state of Victoria, on the south east coast of Australia, the beer market is dominated by a brand called VB (Victoria Bitter).
VB has a very sour taste, and in my view, it has no taste at all. I have since learned that many other Victorians feel the same way that I do.
Nevertheless, if you go down to your local footy or cricket club on a Saturday night (depending on the season), you will see all the ‘blokes’ drinking VB. Indeed, it’s manufacturer, Fosters, claims that it has the highest share of the beer market Australia wide.
The reason is that Fosters has been so successful in its advertising over the years, that you just don’t feel like a true ‘man’ if you drink something other than VB. It has such an effect that I sometimes used to force myself to drink it just to be one of ‘the blokes.’
(Actually, I prefer whiskey mixed with cola, but don’t tell any Aussies that or my reputation will be destroyed)
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Hi Andrew, what’s a “footy”? Interesting word. Great story about VB. (I have not heard of that brand.) I remember a similar phenomenon about Coors, which then was a local brew in the state of Colorado. Coors had an incredible mystique, people in other parts of the U.S. craved it madly. But at the time, when I lived in Colorado, none of my friends drank Coors. We thought it had no taste, just like VB. Didn’t matter. Eventually Coors became a powerful national brand and is still going strong. Their advertising was indeed fabulous. I’m not sure about my beer history, but I think Coors advertising might have started the microbrewery craze that took the U.S. market by storm for 15-20 years.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear.
‘Footy’ in Australia, refers to Australian Rules Football, and a ‘footy’ club refers to an Australian Rules Football club.
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