Tag: Advertising

Pay for Performance – Good Idea, or Not…

I just read a piece in The Economist about a movement to pay advertising agencies for value, not hours, and how this trend is catching on. Currently, the American Association of Advertising Agencies estimates that about 10 percent of compensation agreements are value-based, according to this article. (Not sure that figure supports the suggestion that this is a trend that is “taking off”…)

Anyway, my initial reaction in reading this was: “Well, why not? Why should agencies just be paid for being “creative,” and racking up what can be enormous fees? Continue reading “Pay for Performance – Good Idea, or Not…”

When Awareness and Preference is Not Enough.

Not many people remember a product called Zima and that’s the point of this post. As a marketing professional I’ve always been interested in new product introductions and advertising campaigns in general – how well do they work? how long do they “run” (suggesting that the positive effects are continuing to produce results or, if nothing else, that the agency and client haven’t “pulled the plug” prematurely). Continue reading “When Awareness and Preference is Not Enough.”

McDonald’s vs. Starbucks – the Coffee Wars

McDonald’s recently announced that it will be serving specialty coffees like vanilla lattes and caramel cappuccinos at outlets across the U.S., at a fraction of the cost of the same types of drinks at Starbucks.

Wow! As this plays out it will be a great economics case study. Can you compete on price? What value is there in a brand? Will consumers continue to pay more for something that they can get for less someplace else?

Continue reading “McDonald’s vs. Starbucks – the Coffee Wars”

In The Minds of Consumers – Brilliant!

On the way home from teaching a class the other day I heard what I thought was a classicly created radio commercial from OnStar.

The attention-getting premise: “Are you counting on your cell phone to be your lifeline in a crash?” Well, yeah. That’s why I don’t need OnStar, right? Continue reading “In The Minds of Consumers – Brilliant!”

Writing Ad Copy – WIIF*T*!!

Okay – this headline is not intended to be an expletive. But, after recent experiences with a group of students in a senior-level, project-based, PR campaign class, I’m thinking that maybe the old copywriter’s acronym of WIIFM (“What’s in it for me”?) may be somewhat misleading and result in a lack of focus on the end user – THEM! The better acronym may be WIIFT- “What’s in it for *them*!”) I have been so indoctrinated into “selling” to people since my early childhood that I think I may take certain things for granted – one of which is that, if I want to “sell” or “persuade” somebody about anything – whether it’s buying a product, giving me a job, going to eat where *I* want to go eat, etc., I need to think about WIIFT – “What’s in it for *them*?” And, I need to…
Continue reading “Writing Ad Copy – WIIF*T*!!”

When You’re Pitching To “The Media”

At least once a week – maybe more often – I’ll have a prospect or client say to me:  “I can’t understand why the media won’t run a story on my…” Well, there may be a number of reasons. Here are 5: Continue reading “When You’re Pitching To “The Media””