Mad 4 Blog

While buying commercials during major televised events isn’t exactly modern advertising, the annual post-Super Bowl commercial run-down is still where advertisers look to gauge current consumer responsiveness. Despite the most fastidious analyses of emerging trends, it’s the act of holding a time-honored tradition against itself for comparison that reveals the most about the state of the advertising world.

For example, last year’s popular E-Trade “Baby Talk” ads were all but overlooked this year when it came to Super Bowl XLIII’s commercials of note. And Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser’s commercials, while popular, fell short of the standards set by the brand in previous years. Could this indicate consumer restlessness, a summons for change? How much should advertising executives look into this unpredictable turn-around? Maybe it’s too much to assume major social signals from a rout flip-flop of consumer opinion, but then again, if one were to consider the many large-scale events that have altered the national mentality since 2008′s big game, it isn’t absurd to think that viewers might be seeking something more than mundane from even their television ads.

And what about the fact that the least favorite of the commercials tended to be big-price-tag objects like cars (Hyundai and Toyota) and flat-screen TVs (Vizio)? Is this a reflection of the economy and mentality of the nation as a whole? The relative popularity of career-driven ads from Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com would indicate that consumers do have economics and salaries on the brain. Should advertisers take this as a warning to focus their campaigns on budgets and deals, rather than flaunting the merits of the high life? Or maybe slant campaigns toward entertainment-rather than enticement? Of course advertising agencies have to ask themselves if the latter strategy is just going to make the end consumer rewind the TiVo a few times, or if it translates to response and sales.

One entertaining commercial showed immediate success with a call to action that didn’t go unnoticed. NBC sold fourth-quarter ads at the lowest rate of all the Super Bowl commercial slots. In turn, the fourth quarter commercials showed some of the event’s highest viewership, due largely to the last-minute touchdowns on behalf of both the Cardinals and the Steelers that had viewers glued to their set. One of the fourth quarter ads that garnered the most attention in this time slot was GoDaddy.com’s spot with model Danica Patrick, inviting viewers to log online for more information on her “enhancements.” Next year, it wouldn’t be surprising if NBC raised the rates on the fourth quarter by a skosh in response to that time slot’s success this year; media buyers beware. And, thanks to the immediate traffic that GoDaddy.com’s website achieved, instant-gratification calls to action (like logging online to place a vote or watch a video) are guaranteed to start popping up in hoards.

Of course, one commercial that made every reviewer stop and take notice was the Doritos “Crystal Ball” commercial bought by Frito-Lay. This was the second year Doritos auctioned off its commercials to amateur advertisers, allowing consumers to not only design and produce spots for the Super Bowl, but also allowing consumers to vote for their favorite spot online (with winners accepting a one million dollar prize). This technique ensured popularity during the game itself, and garnered a lot of publicity before and after. Not to mention the fact that this ad was consistently ranked as a top Super Bowl commercial in an otherwise indecisive year. Putting your demographic in charge of appeasing your demographic seems obvious-it’s practically self-fulfilling surveying. In the advertising world, a self-fulfilling prophecy of consumerism is as good as a genie in a bottle. And after 2009′s Super Bowl, the advertising world is looking more into consumer-based commercialism, which viewers can bet they’ll see more of come Super Bowl XLIV.

Whether Super Bowl commercials’ popularity can be used to measure America’s response to the economic crisis, or whether it’s simply a matter of preferring hot-blooded horses to dancing lizards, media relations experts are sure to hold the sanctity of Super Bowl responsiveness up as they plan the rest of 2009′s campaigns. No matter how clever, creative and forward-thinking a firm’s marketing strategies, sometimes the only place to turn for trends that will spark the next big pitch is a 43-year-old football tradition.

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Studies have proven during difficult economic times, those companies who maintain their advertising presence will come out on top in their category when the economy lifts. However, being top-of-mind does not have to equate to multi-million dollar marketing budgets.

Think strategic marketing tactics. Utilizing a grassroots marketing approach and seeking community outreach tactics, can be just as effective and more cost efficient than traditional advertising.

By seeking the untapped audience right in your neighborhood, any company can remain on the radar amongst their target market with a minimal investment.

Such strategic marketing tactics include:

• Geo-targeting your advertising initiatives within a 5 – 7 mile radius of your location will make for less waste coverage.

• Be nontraditional. There are so many mediums beside expensive TV to penetrate the market. Consider ideas such as shopping plaza signage, movie theater advertising, buying an ad in a zone of a publication rather than the whole county or even sponsoring youth sports for in-field signage opportunities.

• Sponsor local associations or industry trade groups. Offer to be a speaker or sponsor an event in trade for an ad in their newsletter or access to their e-blast list.

• Build your opt-in database. Your website is the main portal for prospective clients to find information. Be sure you have a response form on your site with an offer to obtain email address information for future communication like our Mad 4 e-newsletter.

Lastly, measure your results. Any good advertising effort should have some type of measurement metric in place.  Create a unique url or phone number as a call-to-action, develop a tracking spreadsheet by medium for when prospects inquire and install Google analytics on your website or landing page. If you don’t know what’s working or not, you’re not being strategic with your marketing tactics.

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It’s that time of year again, when chocolate and wine sales hit the roof and all spare shelves and counter tops of the Mad 4 Marketing agency are adorned with various love-related decorations and trinkets.

Since there is no getting away from love hearts in shop windows and the multiple commercials for red roses that we see and hear everyday leading up to February 14th, we at Mad 4 Marketing succumbed to the Valentines trend and injected some romance into this week’s blog.

Admittedly, advertising isn’t the most romantic of industries and the blog committee was hard-pressed to find any kind of romance-linked topic until they considered what they do everyday and for whom they do it.

As in any successful and fulfilling romantic relationship, there are certain essential elements that make it what it is and most of these can be found in our everyday working relationships. One of the most important of these is Trust.

As an advertising agency, we trust our clients to trust us. We trust that they believe we will do a good job and that we will put them and their company’s success first. Our clients must trust in our advice to them even if their first instincts are to be unsure. Without trust, we wouldn’t get very far.

At Mad 4 Marketing, we work hard to meet deadlines, we offer solutions to problems, we believe collaboration is key and that’s why we call it a partnership.

We embark on client relationships just as we would embark on any other relationship in life; by establishing each other’s goals and by respecting each other’s objectives. We learn about our partners and apply that knowledge to sustain our liaison and help make them better. We might do this with contracts and conference reports rather than love notes and marriage certificates, but we do it all the same.

Rather than seeking immediate short-term gratification and reward, we listen to them and try to invest our time and resources wisely, in order to achieve long-term results and future benefits for our clients and their businesses. We believe in mutual respect for an effective and harmonious working relationship, treating their business as if it were our own.

We don’t write poetry, but we do write press releases. We don’t rub their feet when they’ve had a rough day, but we do try to take the burden of achieving results off their shoulders. Long walks on the beach? Certainly, if they involve market research.

In romance, both sides work at building a mutually supportive, mutually beneficial relationship. They work hard to create a sense of togetherness, and they benefit because of this. That’s what we strive for.

As in any relationship, the day-to-day minutia can be hard work. There are good days and there are bad days but, if both parties want the same thing and aim to achieve it together, they can’t go wrong.

So, our overblown romantic gesture to our clients this Saturday, and everyday, is to keep their business thriving so we can keep their business.

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Despite slowly developing a reputation around the office for being a punctuation snob, I decided to continue with this blog about exclamations marks – specifically their overuse within advertising.

If I receive an email and the subject line says, Read This!!!! I’m certainly NOT going to read it, no matter who or what company sent it. To me, exclamation overuse is far more dissuasive than persuasive; it provokes a reverse-psychology effect, rather like the boy who cried wolf or the way in which the word awesome no longer describes something that inspires awe.

In the context of advertising – why would any respectable marketer feel the need to use so many exclamation points in any ad or promotion trying to persuade people to buy their product or service? Its overuse, and sometimes if it’s unwarranted, even its use, is unprofessional and a sure sign of poor writing.

One of my favorite quotes on this matter came from F Scott Fitzgerald when he was proofreading the work of one of his principals; An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. And if you remember this the next time you see it being abused, you will probably agree.

Of course, in today’s popular mediums of communication such as text messages, a writer has a very short space in which to communicate his or her message, so the overuse of exclamation points can be somewhat excused, but in advertisements when a company has paid good money to represent itself to the public? Copywriters should know better.

A good writer can convey tone in words alone, in fact, very rarely – except in cases of speech – do they need an exclamation mark. After all, if it’s used in every paragraph, how is the reader to differentiate what is really meant as an exclamation? An exclamation mark is supposed to communicate an unusual emotion, an emotion that you don’t have every day and certainly not every sentence.

So this is a blog really in disguise as a plea to all those reading to have some self-discipline and ration the use of the exclamation mark for circumstances to which they themselves might actually exclaim. If not, over time, this Tyrannosaurus Rex of punctuation will lose its meaning as well as its impact and go the same way as the extinct creature itself.

If you feel yourself succumbing to the temptation of over-exclamation, stop and think -  does what you’re saying really justify its use? If so, go right ahead, but if not, leave it out and learn to trust your own writing. Instead of abusing this poor punctuation mark, try using the right words to effectively communicate your message.

So, I hope I’ve made my point and communicated the fact that this is a topic of frustration for me, because I did it without using one exclamation point. I’ll leave you to decide…

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