85 Words Give or Take

Billboard Mistakes

2018-08-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

I love billboards when they are used right.

But when they look like a dog's breakfast two questions come to mind.

Who is proofing these boards and who trained the sales rep selling?

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are going to use billboards.

1. Keep the message brief.
2. Your billboard should be part of your overall campaign and not your campaign.
3. And your boards have to be designed to be read from street level.

I took this picture from my car parked. It's the top board.

What do you see?

So I parked a little closer. And this is what you would see driving by.

This is a picture from the parking lot behind the business where the board is.

Its challenging to read even from here never mind travelling the speed limit from the opposite side of the street.

The expression , "showed up and threw up" comes to mind.

This is to busy and the colors make it difficult to focus on the 5 messages on the board.

I would have used a white background, the Lantern picture and website.

Here is another example of the above expression.

This isn't in my car but me standing on the sidewalk trying to make out the board on the left.

Me standing on the sidewalk but zooming in with my phone.

The headline is "Innovators never stop learning."

Underneath it says, "And they are enrolling in Canada's most innovative adult learning programs."

Register, website and something I can't read because of the fixture and then the University of Manitoba logo.

Oh and someone decided to put a picture of lady which I would likely guess is a stock photo they bought and means nothing to the ad.

Why not stack the message.

Headline.
Web address.
Logo.

Lots of white space and the billboard company expertise selects the font so it can be read from street level.

Billboards are a terrific medium used properly.

Remember very few words, one call to action and don't be afraid of white space.

Online Gift Certificates

2018-02-28T18:32:00.000-06:00

Just wondering why you wouldn't have the capability to buy gift certificates on your website.

For the customer its convenience.

Fill out the form.

Decide on the value.

Customer pays with credit card.

And you email the gift card to customer.

Clean transaction.

And the bonus for you?

Offer the buyer a gift card too if they opt in to your data base.

You control your cost of acquisition.

And if they use the gift card you just got yourself a new customer.

Somethings I want to ask God when I get there

2017-09-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

Really God, why couldn’t you have done something to protect the baby toe!

Why don’t people know the difference between a merge and a yield?

Why didn’t you make politicians noses grow when they lied?

Why do you always make us play like pros on the 18^th hole after we have stunk the joint out on the previous 17 holes?

How did our parents get a whole lot smarter as we got older?

Why isn’t there a switch to shut our mouths at the right time?

How can ice cream make us fat?

What is the reason for eye brows?

And where did you hide the termites from Noah on the Ark?

New Year Resolutions, Part One

2017-01-09T04:00:00.000-06:00

It’s a new year filled with resolutions.

Quit smoking.

Lose weight.

Exercise more.

My resolution this year is to find the answers to a long growing list of nagging questions.

Hear are some so let’s get started.

When it so crazy cold outside and you can barely breathe how do people still have the urge to smoke in the frigid weather?

Part 2 of that question. What does it feel like to be smoking and hacking up a lung at the same time?

Is there a course to teach drivers how to use roundabouts?

Is there a course to teach drivers the difference between a merge and a yield?

Who wrote the manual for customer service that now teaches the term, “yeah no problem” instead of “your welcome”?

Why does the National Football League toss players for unsportsmanlike actions like fighting but allow its players to show boat?

Why does the National Hockey League have overtime and a shootout to find a winner yet still give the losing team one point?

Back to football and someone please explain to me why players insist on playing a game with bare arms when it is so fricken cold? Is it an intimidating factor?

Why will we tolerate a politician who doesn’t live up to their work performance yet think nothing of canning an employee who doesn’t?

Why do businesses think they need to be all in with social media and yet their bricks and mortar stores and website are dismal?

Why in Winnipeg is there speed traps on Sunday mornings? Do church people speed more than others?

Feel free to leave your resolutions in the comments.

Here Is What I Know

2016-11-10T16:40:00.000-06:00

Hell didn’t freeze over November 9^th.

Big data failed.

Curses end so there is hope for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mr. Church is a great movie and Eddie Murphy deserves an academy award.

Mel Gibson is back looking a little rough these days but his movie Hacksaw Ridge is a must see.

CNN is not what it used to be.

I miss Larry King.

And Piers Morgan.

Why is the king of all media, Howard Stern so quiet.

If you want to hear the voice of reason regarding digital, you have to read Bob Hoffman’s Ad Contrarian blog.

If you complain about losing business to online, review how easy it is to do business with you.

It’s a breath of fresh air when you call a business and get a live person.

Canada isn’t building an igloo wall at the US border but being the nice folk we are would gladly pay for it President elect.

To Barbara Streisand we know you won’t move to Winnipeg. Last time you were here you were booed off the stage. But I hear Prince George is a big fan of yours!

To Samuel Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Cher, Madonna, Amy Schumer and the rest of you Hollywood types wanting to move to Canada, I am offering classes to help you assimilate into our culture.

Courses start at $999

In American Dollars!

And don’t forget to honor those in Flander’s Field with a moment of silence.

Lest we forget.

A radio story

2016-03-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

Wayne Ens is an author, trainer and media specialist.

He writes and distributes Ens on Sales Tips via email.

His latest tip is well worth the read.

Here is his radio story.

Brian Russell, the COO of Media Distribution Solutions, shared some research about the power of video at the recent Local Online Advertising Conference in New York.

Their research revealed that having video on a website makes it 53 times more likely to be found on Google, and that emails with videos get 50% more clicks compared to emails without video.

I have no doubt about the effectiveness of videos online, and a recent trade article about the conference said "The takeaway is that video is clearly the new frontier in capturing attention in your marketing".

Statistics like this can have local advertisers lining up to spend more money on videos, which often become dated very quickly, at the expense of radio advertising.

By the way, the company that facilitated this research, Media Distribution Solutions, just happens to produce videos.

Our TOMA surveys of more than 10,000 consumers reveals that consumers are 444 times more likely to view the website of a business they have heard of versus viewing the site of a business they have not heard of.

And while video might make a website 53 times more likely to be found on Google, our research and advertiser seminars validate Seth Godin's claim that "It's better to be sought than found" online.

Being sought by name is the only sure way a business can be found online, and having established a pre-need preference for a business with a strong branding campaign will always trump any SEO or other online tactics.

Radio is the proactive media, and online is the reactive media. Advertisers need both.

Establishing a pre-need preference for a business with proactive media will always trump putting all of your eggs in the reactive media basket.

Step one is to establish a pre-need awareness and preference for a business with proactive radio. Step two is to use video and other online tactics when consumers search reactive media in reaction to their need.

Let's tell the proactive radio story and not let advertisers put the cart before the horse.

$24,000 lesson

2016-03-09T13:26:00.001-06:00

I got voice mail.

I hit zero to get back to the receptionist to have my party paged.

Call was answered by the shipping department.

Thinking goblins in the phone lines, I tried again.

Same thing.

I mentioned that phone problem to the general manager 6 months ago.

Still happens.

Yet this manager is spending $2000 a month on social media posts.

Facebook and Twitter.

So even if I were to notice the posts, what is the first thing I will do?

Check out the website.

Clunky and busy.

Call?

"Shipping department".

But spending $2000 on social media.

Facebook and Twitter.

And two of your most important points of contact?

Broken.

And it cost you $24,000.00.

And no telling how much business you lost.

Lack of results using social media marketing

2016-02-28T15:28:00.001-06:00

Elaine Fogel is a author, speaker, marketer, brand evangelist, educator, and consultant.

Her website is elainefogel.net

Her latest post is the lack of results of social media marketing and is a great read.

Social Media Marketing, The New Toy That Could Blind Your Marketing

2016-02-25T03:00:00.000-06:00

Social media is a phenomenon.

Social media marketing is not.

You likely won't find anyone who takes every opportunity he can to call BS on

social media marketing using, wait for it, social media.

His name is Bob Hoffman.

He is an adman, author and writes a very popular blog, adcontrarian.blogspot.ca

You can read all about him here.

And you can watch a great talk he gave to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation here about online advertising.

About social media marketing.

Get your sunglasses on and read his latest newsletter below.

This will be the best hour you didn't pay a social media guru to spend your money on the new shiny marketing toy. And be sure to click the links in the newsletter.

88% SEE NO RETURN ON SOCIAL MEDIA-Bob Hoffman Newsletter

It was going to change business forever. It was going to make traditional advertising irrelevant. It was going to revolutionize marketing.

It's social media. And it's been the biggest disappointment since the NFL hired referees.
First, let's do the full-disclosure thing: I am a social media success story (yes, there are a few.) I've marketed two books successfully and developed a pretty healthy speaking/consulting business using social media.
Now the punch line: I think social media is mostly a bunch of baloney, and I've been saying so for years.
This became top-of-mind this week when Ad Age reported, "Marketers Keep Spending on Social Despite Lack of Results."
The article went on to say that a study by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, the American Marketing Association, and Deloitte reported that "Only 11.5% of Marketers Can Prove the Quantitative Impact of Social Media."
And remember, among marketing execs there is always an incentive to invent results where there are none. So the real number is probably even smaller.
Then -- just when you think social media silliness must be waning-- the study goes on to report that, "Marketers are expected to nearly double their social media spending in the next five years."
Yeah, that makes sense.
Here are some random thoughts about social media:

There is a difference between social media and social media marketing. Social media has been a huge worldwide phenomenon. Social media marketing has been a worldwide flop.

People on social media are interested in the same things as in any other form of media: Hollywood stars, pop music, athletes, dogs and cats, and the insalubrious behavior of the rich and famous. They are not interested in the new roofing material you're selling or your awesome new line of toaster ovens.

Despite the billions of dollars wasted by brands, nobody has ever "joined the conversation" about a brand. Don't believe me? Go to your Facebook page and see if you can find a conversation about a brand. Or if you want to save time, the official number is this: 7 out of 10,000 fans of a brand interact with one of its Facebook posts.

You do not grow a brand by concentrating your attention on your current "fans" (which is what social media is all about.) You grow it by gaining new customers. Be sure to read "How Brands Grow" by Prof. Byron Sharp.

From McKinsey & Co. “Email remains a more effective way to acquire customers than social media - nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined."
And speaking of Facebook, its amazing success is due to the fact that a few years ago they quietly gave up on social media marketing. They are now a website that makes virtually all its money by selling traditional paid advertising.

Harvard Agrees, I'm Worried

An article in the current Harvard Business Review says: "...few brands have generated meaningful consumer interest online. In fact, social media seems to have made brands less significant." Warning: The article will make you want to stick a sharp object in your head. Read it at your peril.

The Ad Contrarian: Waste Not, Grow Not

2016-02-16T06:09:00.001-06:00

The Ad Contrarian: Waste Not, Grow Not: There's a restaurant in my neighborhood that's very popular. You can go there any evening about 7 pm and I can predict with absol...

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

2016-02-11T03:30:00.000-06:00

Linkedin spit out some names that I may know.

There he was.

An old colleague that I hadn’t seen or talked to since he walked out the door about

3 years before.

We weren’t friends that we socialized outside work.

But we did work together for a couple of years seeing each other every day.

He was still in town.

He had changed professions but still in sales.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Like the company that feels they can get by cutting back their advertising.

We have been advertising with you for years.

Your audience knows us.

Until they need your service.

And they haven’t seen you in awhile.

What are the chances they will remember you?

Out of sight, out of mind.

Analyse Your Ad Copy

2014-06-11T05:30:00.000-05:00

Tom Wanek is an author, blogger and a Wizard of Ads Partner.

His book, Currencies That Buy Credibility is a great read.

I follow Tom on both Twitter and his You Tube channel.

When I am writing copy I make a point to visit The Carlin Ad-Speak Calculator on his website.

Find out if your ad copy sells or is just a bunch of platitudes.

Social Media and Seinfeld

2014-06-09T15:58:00.000-05:00

You have to love Seinfeld.

For a show about nothing, not a day goes by that I find myself saying, "that right there is a Seinfeld episode".

It would be interesting to see Seinfeld in the social media era.

George would be creeping out girls from college on Facebook.

Elaine would be all over blogging, pinterest, vine, yada yada yada..

Kramer had so many cockamamie ideas like perfume that smells like the beach and making your own pizza, that he would be all over every social media startup.

And Jerry, well he would just be Jerry.

There was an episode that kind of reminds me of social media and all the gurus.

It was the reservation episode.

"Anybody can take a reservation but holding the reservation is the key".

If you are going to brag about how facebook done properly beats traditional media then you better be prepared to show examples.

Otherwise all you really have is a theory about....nothing!

Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-05-20T05:30:00.000-05:00

Why is it that three different weather companies can't give us the same forecast?

Why can't you find a decent nail clipper?

Why do gas prices drop the week before a long weekend and then go up days before the long weekend?

Why do you change Donna to Dawna?

Why are you still using QR Codes?

Why aren't we hearing more about Bitcoins?

Why are using words like "transparency" in your ads to describe your business? (You will have to let that sink in!)

Why aren't you reading George Tannenbaum's blog, http://adaged.blogspot.ca/?

Why CBS? You cancelled a very funny show. I guess I was the only one watching!

Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-05-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

Why did you produce this ad Coors? Should have come with a manual.

Why do you have to stand in line with your friend when you aren't buying anything?

Why is it I have yet to hear someone say they are engaging with a product on social media?

Why can't other airlines be like Air Canada and lose my luggage not once but twice on the same trip?

Why can't Air Canada just grow up and be like Westjet?

Why does Kia use hamsters in their ads?

Why do companies buy facebook likes?

Why is American Idol still on the air?

Why Premier Sellinger are you allowing the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation to pay the outgoing CEO $180 an hour as a consultant after you gave her a 6 figure compensation package to retire?

Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-05-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

Why am I getting notifications on my LinkedIn that people love my picture? Creepy!

Why doesn't the Manitoba NDP Government match every dollar given for worthy causes at their provincially run Liquor stores?

Why does the NHL let NBC interview coaches during the game and not during intermissions?

Why do dress shirts say wrinkle free when they have wrinkles?

Why do hockey commentators say, "pretty good save"? Since when are there degrees of saves?

Why does Pepsi produce crappy TV ads? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOAAE4gNBQ4

Why do businesses create facebook pages and promote them instead of promoting their own website?

Why the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba President's Dinner is one of the best events of the year. They surprised the attendees this year with special musical guest KD Lang.

Some Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-04-21T05:30:00.000-05:00

Why will Evander Kane make 6 million next year? Jonathan Toews will make 7.5 million and has won two Stanley Cups, an MVP, a world junior hockey championship and a gold medal for good measure.

Why does Hollywood make crappy movies?

Why are you buying into the social media bullshit (thanks B.J. Mendelson for a great book on social media)? Walk the aisles of any store and pick a product social media made.

Why do cellular phone companies and cable companies treat long term customers like garbage?

Why do government offices make it impossible to reach a live person?

Why was my garbage collected on a stat holiday and my recycling was not?

Why did the City of Winnipeg Forestry cut branches down on all the trees on my street but not pick up ALL the branches? (Thanks for the mess.)

Why do people pierce their ears and leave holes you can drive a semi through?

The Golden Age of Bullshit

2014-04-20T17:58:00.001-05:00

Brilliant message given by Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, at the Advertising Week Europe held in London.

Ad Aged: A Thursday poem.

2014-04-18T15:01:00.001-05:00

Ad Aged: A Thursday poem.: Whatever happened to hashtags? They were going to takeover the planet. You wouldn't just read an ad. You'd interact and scan it. ...

Some Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-04-14T06:32:00.002-05:00

Why can’t you find a good set of windshield wipers?

Why do ad agencies insist on turning advertising from an art to a science?

Why do ads use words like, “they say”? Just tell me who they is!

Why isn’t golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez not doing TV commercials?

Why does Old Spice produce crappy ads?

Why do politicians use the excuse to increase something on the fact they there hasn’t been an increase in years or better yet, “we are still lowest in the country"?

Why didn’t the tall foreheads not put a dome on Investors Group Field?

Why doesn’t the Winnipeg Blue Bomber football team hire a good public relations person? Staying hush on the water damage is….damaging!

Why does the NHL let players on the shootout come to stop?

Why doesn’t Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz forego on hiring more communications people and hire a good public relations person to help the Mayor with his speeches so he never again says, “to be honest with you” when answering questions?

And The Survey Says

2014-04-04T05:30:00.000-05:00

Surveys can be useless.

Especially the ones that ask you to rate from 1 to 10.

One being not likely, 10 being most likely.

Most surveys are long and boring.

Isn’t it easier to have three questions?

Did we help you find what you needed?

How did we do helping?

What could we do better?

Either way you have to know that if you help me, I share.

If you don’t I share.

2-9 is a long way.

Or to put it another way, a load of bs.

Who Is Not Buying New Cars

2014-04-01T05:30:00.000-05:00

According to Edmunds.com, The share of new cars purchased by those aged 18-34 dropped 30% in the last five years,

AARP reports that 50+ drivers purchase 6.2 million new autos each year, while 18-34 year olds account for 1.3 million. That’s a remarkable 400% 50+ advantage.

Tom Libby reports in his Polk blog that, "The much-coveted new vehicle buyers age 18-34, sometimes referred to as millenials, are a dwindling group. Five years ago they accounted for 17% of all new vehicle buyers and now 11%".

In his post, The Great Debate: Do Millennials Really Want Cars, or Not?, Bob Tuttle of Time says that, "one theory has it that the generation that came of age with the Internet and smartphones thinks cars are pretty lame."

Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian continually blogs about how the automobile industry is in love with this market that doesn't buy new vehicles. From his post, Cats Who Want To Be Dogs,

"People over 50 buy 62% of all new cars, but are not in any auto maker's media target. Auto makers typically buy 18-49 years-olds or 25-54 year-olds.

In other words, auto sellers direct about 100% of their effort at 38% of the market and about 0% of their effort at 62% of the market."

Yet with all this data the automobile industry continues to target the shopper who represents about a third of all new car buyers.

And if you are going to hand your ad agencies multi million dollar accounts, you could at least ask for some creativity. Four car manufacturers TV ads all have current top 40 songs on the radio as the music beds in their ads.

Talk about sheep.

Nissan is using Bruno, Mazda has Capital Cities, Kia Soul features Lady Gaga and Fiat has Pharrel Williams with P. Diddy, Sean Combs, Puff Daddy or whoever he wants to be this year.

Robin Williams plays Sam Roberts in the TV comedy, The Crazy Ones a show about an ad agency Williams owns with his daughter. Roberts is an old school ad agency guy.

In one episode he chastises the concept for an ad saying, "It's annoying and obvious. There is enough visual pollution in this world."

Amen.

Some Random Whys From The Weekend

2014-03-31T05:30:00.000-05:00

Why do men have hypenated names?

Why do retail businesses rarely answer their phones?

Why do politicians not lose their jobs when they lie?

Why do businesses have people with no social skills in positions dealing with the paying public?

Why do car manufacturers put more gizmos in our cars to play with and distract us from driving?

Why do social media gurus think that people want to engage and have conversations when we have screeners like voice mail, call display and a do not call list.

Why do governments cut social programs for addictions yet increase avenues for addictions like gambling?

Why do people drive like it's always Sunday?

Why do businesses think because they have been around for a long time they don't have to advertise? Stop the presses and tell that to McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi, Ford and GM.

Great Ad Copy Advice From The Wizard Of Ads

2014-03-29T15:41:00.001-05:00

If you sell advertising and in particular radio, one of the best resources you owe yourself to subscribe to is the Monday Morning Memo from Roy Williams.

Roy is the founder of the Wizard Academy and is known as the Wizard of Ads..

I was lucky to have Roy speak to our radio group a few years back.

He's penned a trilogy of must have books on advertising.

Roy also has a number of Wizard partners.

Tim Miles is one of those partners.

Tim writes a blog, The Daily Blur and its also a blog you should subscribe to.

Here is a great post on the 10 Basic Steps to Ad Writing.

Enjoy and thanks Tim.

The Double-Edged Sword Of Social Media

2014-03-28T14:27:00.001-05:00