Let Your Voice Be Your Guide

Your company probably has a brand standards guide – a booklet of standards for how to use logos, colors and other graphic specifications about your brand. But how much do you think about the voice you use to talk to your customers?

Honing in on an irreverent, honest tone for its new product line is why we admire the new advertising campaigns for U by Kotex. Yes, that’s right, we like ads about tampons and pads. The brilliance about these ads is that Kotex took an outdated way of talking to its customers and (ahem) flushed it down the toilet.

With tongue firmly in cheek, Kotex used its own footage from previous advertising campaigns to poke fun at the absurd way the brand previously has talked about periods – women wearing white, twirling on the beach, dancing. Let’s be honest here. Dancing is about the last thing women feel like doing at that time of the month. Based on research of its key targets, Kotex rethought its brand voice. With U, Kotex is encouraging women to talk honestly, and, well, be less ashamed, about their periods. And women have responded positively.

OK, so you may not be selling feminine hygiene products. But it does matter how you talk to your customers. Are you speaking in a way that makes your customers want to listen?

From the Mouths of Babes

At HenkinSchultz, we think our building is pretty cool: a little bit industrial, a whole lot creative. We take pride in our work space, and we like to have fun. But we looked at it a little differently after hearing what one fifth-grader had to say about it:

“It looks like a toy chest threw up in here.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a future copywriter on our hands.

KFC Doubles Down, prepares for a bust

What’s the difference between flash and substance?

Let’s ask Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Since 2005, Kentucky Fried Chicken (or KFC, depending on the day) has seen its market share drop. It’s not a drastic drop, but it’s enough of a drop to raise concern – especially as the fried chicken industry expands and challengers Popeye’s and Chick-fil-A rise to fill market share.

According to a AdAge report, KFC is down to 30% of the chicken market. Add to that over a 1.5 billion dollars in growth, and a LOT of people are either switching from (or outright shunning) the Colonel.

And that brings us to KFC’s recent flash: The Double Down.

The Double Down, if you haven’t heard, is a sandwich – and that term is being used VERY loosely – that uses two fried chicken breasts instead of bread. Inside is a cheesy goo mixture of bacon and grease.

It’s really nothing more than a marketing ploy – the same type of empty strategy that KFC has used constantly through the last several years. It brings to mind the grilled chicken experiment, which was more “Oprah’s talking about our grilled chicken!” than “we believe you should eat grilled chicken because it’s what you want.”

On the other hand, Chick-fil-A offers healthier options as a matter of principle – not as a marketing ploy. They are enjoying the ride as an underdog, pushing the horses to a cultish status. They use better chicken. They employ people you actually want to buy chicken from. They serve it in stores you actually want to eat chicken in.

Chick-fil-A isn’t depending on decades of market dominance and flashy hype machines to sell chicken. It’s depending on substance.

KFC? Well, they’re doubling down on their bet that you’ll eat anything. And while sales may spike for a short amount of time as people rush to try this monstrosity, they’ll soon fall back to where they were.

Flash vs. substance? One gets you attention. The other gets you loyalty.

Which do you think KFC would rather have?

The Internet of Things

ReadWriteWeb has been spending a healthy amount of time researching and discussing The Internet of Things, a concept that describes how, in the future, there will be more things on the Internet – sensors, devices, automated systems – than people.

A new video from IBM’s Smarter Planet group illustrates what The Internet of Things will mean to our future, specifically the social and cultural change that will occur as a result.

Our place as marketers in The Internet of Things is still being developed, and because of this there’s a propensity for fear. The technology is adapting far faster than we can keep up with, which leads to brash and unseemly forays into interruption marketing. We fight to be a part of the answer, and in doing so we bypass working with the system by working in spite of the system.

So what’s our responsibility?

As The Internet of Things becomes more automated, it will also seek out better ways to become more monetized. Which will lead to more opportunities for marketing. Which will lead to more ways in which a person is interrupted during their life.

It’s a slippery slope, and this is where our part will come in – our responsibility to understand, both for our clients and for the customers they serve, that not every channel needs to be interrupted.

That, by choosing the right channels, standing by permission marketing and understanding which options will help a brand (rather than hurt it in ways we may not even understand), we can continue to lead our clients to effective marketing.

All without taking advantage of society and its quickly fracturing attention.

(Via: ReadWriteWeb)

Where Is the Line? (On Advertorials and Front Page Ads)

No one would claim that the garden variety advertorial is a journalistic endeavor. Situated alongside a publication’s content, however, it can often be mistaken as real – especially if designers have taken great pains to replicate font, layout and details.

Advertorials happen. They happen all the time. Whether you think they’re effective or misleading, you probably rarely give them a second thought.

That is, until they begin appearing on your front page.

Alice In Wonderland

Historically, newspapers and magazines have held the front page as an Advertising Free Zone. It only makes sense. No one buys a publication because of the ads on the front; they look to the cover as a de facto table of contents. That’s where the impulse to purchase is created.

But with the decline in advertising revenues, publications have begun allowing more and more leeway. Small banner ads appear near the bottom of the front page. Plastic covers promote wireless services. Post-it notes offer coupons. Ads are creeping into that valuable space, precisely because it’s valuable. Precisely because magazines and newspapers can’t sell the insides as much as they once could.

So, you can imagine, if you offer a newspaper $700,000 to print a full front-page wrap, there’s a good chance they’re going to take it.

That’s what Disney did with the Los Angeles Times. The ad – a four-page wrap that mimicked the Times’ front page – was designed to “create buzz, and to extend the film’s already brilliant marketing campaign,” said John Conroy, spokesman for the Times. It also pushed the day’s headlines to a second page.

It’s not the first time the Times has slipped advertising in under the radar. Last April, an ad for NBC’s Southland gave only minimal indication that it was, indeed, an advertisement – and that was long after the “article” would have been read.

Newspapers: a Vehicle for Journalism or Advertising?

Which begs the question: where is the line? When does journalism begin and advertising end?

According to the American Society of Magazine Editors, ads and editorial content require a clear separation, and front-page ads not allowed. But when faced with the decision between selling a lucrative front cover ad and the ASME’s minimal repercussions (a letter or reprimand and exclusion from the National Magazine Awards), there’s often no more than the approval of a publisher standing in the way.

More than anything, newspaper and magazine readers place their trust in the publications they’re consuming. When ads are placed in a way that blurs the line between editorial and advertising – when advertisers seek to gain attention through deception by designing an ad that looks like real content - that trust is taken advantage of.

In other words, the content of the ads should be considered – not the location.

The Times ad reaches the news outlets because it’s on the front page. But it’s clearly an ad. It steers clear of deception simply because it’s too big to be believable. No one read that and thought, “this is a Los Angeles Times article about the movie.”

However, an advertorial clearly wants to be seen as content. Its entire premise is dependent upon a reader seeing it as an article. Posing as something it’s not, the advertorial plays upon the trust of the reader.

In other words, outrage seems to be misguided because the definition is so hazy. The line is smudged. Possibly irreparably. And it’s up to us – as advertisers and publishers – to, once and for all, redraw the line. Clean it up. Set some standards.

The balance, really, stands between editorial honor and the need to keep the lights on. We can take sides, fighting against either the stuffiness of journalistic integrity or the demons of advertising greed. But both sides have their arguments. Because without determining where that line is – the line between honorable content and the advertising that helps pay for it – we may lose the trust of our readership.

On How NOT to Request Attention on the Internet

One of the first marketing mistakes I ever made happened early. It had to do with this blog, Post Haste. And, it had to do with my naivety in regards to other people’s time.

I had convinced our partners that we should develop a company blog. Very few other marketing agencies in our area had blogs, and it was time to take a dive into the ever-expanding world of Internet marketing and social media.

Searching for an audience – and looking forward to a jaunty dialog with our naturally intelligent readers – I developed a “Look At What We’ve Done!” e-mail. I sent it to every marketing and advertising blogger I could find. I said, essentially, why I thought our blog was great.

I gave them a look at something new. But I failed on one major level.

I never told them why it mattered to them.

Of the 100+ e-mails I sent out, I received only a handful back. Some were congratulatory. Some were dismissive.

One really stood out. The name doesn’t matter – I can’t remember it, anyway – but the tone was distinct.

It chastised me for asking people to care without offering a benefit. It hounded me for blindly grasping for attention - not by participation and discourse, or by giving anything of substance (because, at this time, there was very little on the blog), but by the assumption that I deserved it.

It taught me an important lesson: no one cares until you give a reason to care.

Fast forward to today.

A magazine I’ve never heard of sends me an e-mail. They assume I’m willing to help them pre-promote an upcoming issue. They open with a salutation of “Dear Blogger.” There is no mention of what I’m getting out of the deal, or why I should care.

I see this e-mail, and I see a little of myself that first time around, when I was promoting Post Haste by sidestepping relationships and blindly throwing darts, hoping some would stick.

It’s the same as sending out press releases that make more work for a journalist, or – even worse – assume a store promotion is real news.

It’s the same as blanket spamming a thousand Twitter users with a new e-commerce site.

It’s the same as knocking on my door, asking me to tell all of my friends about your product, and then leaving without even acknowledging my time.

And I know from experience. It’s not impressive. And it doesn’t work.

Another batch of Wolff Olins snake oil

AOL (or, I guess, Aol.) revealed a new logo treatment today.

You can look elsewhere to see what the overall consensus is. (My take: What. A. Joke.)

That being said, there’s a bit of inconsistency that proves Wolff Olins’ ability to b.s. their way through a logo design.

From AOL’s press release:

“Historically brand identity has been monolithic and CONTROLLING, little more than stamping a company name on a product. AOL is a 21st century media company, with an ambitious vision for the future and new focus on creativity and expression, this required the new brand identity to be open and generous, to invite conversation and collaboration, and to feel credible, but also aspirational.” said Karl Heiselman, CEO of Wolff Olins.

Their solution, naturally: stamp the company name onto a handful of stock images.

Come on, guys. After the London 2012 debacle, don’t you think we should be trying a little harder? I mean, THE LEAST YOU COULD DO is make sure the fluffy, inspirational quote defending your work isn’t at odds with the nature of the work itself.

In These Tough Economic Times, PLEASE say something different.

Yeah, we’re all probably in the same boat. Absolutely sick and tired of being reminded of our financial crises, constantly inundated with “In These Tough Economic Times…” and “We Could All Use A Little Good News…” Frustrated beyond relief when the familiar pangs of mood music and serious voice over remind us how a company is going to buck the system by staying close to its roots, as if GM could really change this whole thing by releasing a hybrid vehicle.

So it’s always cool to see someone take the tired “save money during a recession” message and do something cool with it.

Like this Volkswagen guerrilla campaign for the new BlueMotion line of vehicles.

The gist: The European map on a batch of Euro banknotes is stamped with a representation of how far you’d get based on the banknote’s denomination. How far would you get with 50 Euros? It’s right there on the banknote.

Then, they released the bills throughout German VW dealers, service shops, etc.

And they did it all without falling back on tired clichés. Which, even without the awesomeness of the idea, gets a whole fist full of thumbs up from me.

(Via: Direct Daily)

UX by MTLB

We’ve been thinking about the cross between impressive technology and customer usability a lot around the HenkinSchultz offices as of late.

So it’s a pretty awesome surprise that my good friend (in a strictly “blogging-on-the-same-Internet” sense) Bill Green of Make the Logo Bigger summarizes the User Experience discussion in a series of Pac-Man and vehicle side mirror analogies.

From “Why is this user experience [swear word] so hard?”

However, if I want to incorporate more features into my Facebook page, the effort it’s taken hasn’t been worth it. A simple thing like incorporating YouTube videos or my Flickr account has been a major pain. I’ve wasted so much time with what I thought “should” be an easy task, and still not gotten it right.

It’s like Pac Man: I just need to get from Point A to Point B, but instead, I have to do a bunch of stuff first and avoid some very bad things along the way.

Cue endless pokes and virtual beers thank you very much.

(If Pac Man isn’t to your liking, then how about this metaphor: Trying to do something on Facebook is like entering your front door by first going through the garage, then walking around the house.)

Read the rest here. And rock on, Bill Green. Keep fighting the good fight for all of us.

Whale Insurance

This might be older, but I’ve seen a lot over the past few weeks.

Uh… Er…

Okay. So I understand the value of building your brand. And I certainly get making your logo memorable. I applaud the use of simple image branding.

But… Uh…

Well, I guess I’m wondering - what am I missing here?

Because if you take the copy out of this spot (and let’s face it - the copy is no more than a logo and “Mutual Funds, Annuities, Life Insurance”) I challenge anyone to understand what the blankety-blank this company is trying to sell.

Whale-watching tours? Life jackets? Pacific Ocean cruises? Moby Dick? OH, WHAT… LIFE INSURANCE?

Is it life insurance FOR WHALES, AT LEAST?

— Next Page »

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About HenkinSchultz

HenkinSchultz is an agency. An advertising and marketing and branding and design and production agency. All of those things, and then some.

But, underneath all that, we're really a bunch of thinkers. As in, we think about stuff, both pertinent and not, with and without boundaries, as if our lives depended on it. And this right here, Post Haste, is where we write about it.

Visit us at http://www.henkinschultz.com.

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Recent Posts

• Let Your Voice Be Your Guide
• Penn and Misspeller
• Eat Your Brussels Sprouts
• Rhymes With Rice
• Embrace Losing, Embrace a Tree
• Buses Attract Attention, and Most Recently, Awards
• From the Mouths of Babes
• Needed: One Awesomewriter.
• To Inform and Delight
• KFC Doubles Down, prepares for a bust

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