In a creative working process, it’s not always easy to remain objective. Being able to take a step back and look at your work, whether it’s a TV spot or masterpiece painting, and imagine how the average audience member will react can go a long way towards making your work achieve maximum effectiveness.

People on the working end have a tremendous fear of their audience becoming bored. No one likes to sit through a TV spot without being stimulated, challenged, or intrigued. However, often times this fear propels many advertisers into a problem just as dangerous as boring their audience.

Advertisers get so worried about losing an audience’s interest that they resort to bombarding them with as much information as possible. Cramming too much text onto the screen, unnecessary repetitiveness, overbearingly loud voiceovers… all common mistakes that are made out of the fear of the ad becoming boring. The typical excuse (pitfall) is that the ad, for whatever reason, needs to feel “urgent”.

Try to remain objective. When you’ve written your script, take a step back and envision your finished ad: the tone, pacing, volume, and feel that it will have. Do you think that the average housewife or soccer mom that your ad is supposed to be targeting will respond positively to it? If this is your target audience, odds are that they are watching channels like Food Network, HGTV, E!, Style, Bravo — and if your ad sounds like it might as well be trying to sell monster truck tickets, odds are that they’re going to tune you out.

Urgency is necessary, especially for seasonal sales, but don’t use it as a crutch. Take a step back and look at the big picture. With a little more balance and understanding, you’ll be seeing dollar signs in no time.

The AFC and NFC Championship games are over and the teams for Super Bowl XLVI are set. Now, advertisers hope they won’t be in similar conversations as Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams are today. To make sure they aren’t considered a “fail” and top news for the wrong reason they must go a traditional route. For the 3.5 million dollars on average for 30 second spot they have to be following the numbers right? For some…not exactly.

For those of us who aren’t all that excited about a Super Bowl “rematch” there has to be something more, and luckily there is.

THIS YEAR’S FIRST

Breaking ground this year is the first Super Bowl social media command center in history. This is expected to be a start of a tradition and be around for years to come, but what exactly is it for? This command center will be running from Monday to Super Bowl Sunday and will mainly track fan conversation on Facebook and Twitter. This command center will used advanced search tools and analytics to reach out to fans and become a social media concierge. Fans will be prompted with directions, parking areas, recommended attractions and anything else they seem to need. Best of all, Tweets like “where is a good parking spot” aren’t needed because the command center will pick up on posting as simple as “parking sucks”.

SHAZAM!

No not Captain Marvel, the app that is available for IOS, Android, Blackberry, and more. Shazam has slowly been making their way from just finding out what song is playing to becoming a link for advertisers to use when their commercials are being aired. This Super Bowl 1/3 of all ads will be recognized by Shazam and will direct viewers to more content and deals. Full details aren’t yet disclosed as far as which commercials will be “Shazam-able”, but using the app on applicable commercials can snag you anything from recipes to free song downloads. Current campaigns using Shazam have seen a 350% increase in social engagement and during the Super Bowl companies will undoubtedly see an increase in Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

SHOWING SOME SKIN

Ads this Super Bowl are expected to be even racier than before. GoDaddy.com is leading the way (shocker!) featuring the well known GoDaddy girls body painting their newest member to promote companies. Kia is reportedly in the mix and Doritos is waiting on consumer voting to decide which route their ad will be going. H&M Clothing is also expected to show David Beckham in his underwear to promote their merchandise.

So suggestive ads with partial nudity must be popular, right? Actually, viewers like ads with clothed talent 10% more than those without. Kids and animals actually top the list of what people want to see. Sketchers is going the safe route replacing last year’s sweaty Kim Kardashian with a Bulldog, and Volkswagen is keeping the Star Wars theme, but switching to singing dogs instead of a little boy.

So the question is, why go more provocative? Does sex really sell during the Super Bowl? Looking back at history, showing some skin may not be all that bad of an idea. Victoria Secret’s 1999 spot featuring strutting lingerie models is considered by Steve Jobs to be stepping stone to current Internet usage. This commercial had such an impact at a time when the Internet was not that popular of a trend that over 1 million viewers went to the Victoria Secret site causing it to crash. Viewers may enjoy animals, but will the Sketchers’ Bulldog produce more media impact than the 1.6 billion impressions Kim Kardashian ditching her trainer for Shape-Ups did last year?

In all, Super Bowl XVLI may be a great football game and considering the markets of the teams involved should produce a lot of revenue across the board. Even if you don’t care for the Patriots or Giants, there is still a little something for everyone this year. Test out the command center with some posts, have Shazam handy to see what will be in store, and decide for yourself: skin or no skin.

Just when I was beginning to think that Facebook won the Google+ vs Facebook battle, Google launched a new search that makes Google+ and Google+ business pages that much more relevant. While I’ve always relied on Google to provide the best and most accurate search results I’ve never been a huge fan of their Google+ social media platform and have tried to stay away from their business pages and stick to what works, Facebook. Now Google has stepped up their game once more by launching a search that understands not only content, but people and relationships as well.

What this means for businesses: While you may be topping the Google charts with your awesome SEO you may want to consider looking into creating a Google+ business page. Businesses that are jumping on the Google bandwagon now will soon be appearing higher in the search results by having their pages visible in social search. With social search, people and businesses that are relevant to your query will appear on the right-hand side of the results page, allowing users easy access to connect with them.

The premise of social search is simple: Content shared by your friends is more relevant than content shared by random people you don’t know. If you’re looking for a web designer or a good restaurant, you start by asking your friends. If that doesn’t work, you turn to search. Google makes this process instantaneous by providing all of the previous activities users have shared that is relevant to your search.

Watch out Facebook and Yelp, Google is going to take over the world!

For more information on Google’s new social search platform, please visit Google’s official blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-plus-your-world.html

It’s an exciting time here at TOMA. As 2011 winds down, we can look forward to what’s in store in the coming New Year. Production-wise, we are excited for opportunities that come with advances in technology and the ever-evolving challenge of positioning our clients’ brands exactly where they need to be. We are constantly trying out new techniques and strategies to keep our spots relevant, modern, and effective.

It is this drive to evolve that keeps TOMA from becoming a one-trick-pony. We’re a small agency built on customer service and quick turnaround– on time, on budget. All of this puts us in the position to enter the New Year with the ammunition to reach target audiences effectively and efficiently, more so than ever. We’ll see you there.

College bowl season isn’t just a great time of year if you are a fan or part of a team, it is also a perfect time for branding and to release new products. Why not sponsor a bowl game?

I recall watching the Chick-Fil-A bowl a few years back, at that point I had never been to the restaurant and didn’t lived anywhere near a Chick-Fil-A. When I saw my first Chick-Fil-A in Phoenix I knew a few basic things: they had chicken, they had funny commercials with cows, but most importantly they sponsored football. Based on those details alone I decided to give them a try and I’m glad I did.

One of the four BCS games, the Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl, is held locally in Glendale, AZ at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Since the game is generally a few days after New Years, it teams up with the Insight Bowl just across the valley to sponsor the Fiesta Bowl block party New Year’s celebration. At the block party free samples of new Tostitos products like Artisan style chips are handed out. If you have tickets to the game you will be greeted with samples on your seat that are just the right size to make you want a bigger bag.

The events are even larger when the Tostitos BCS National Championship is held in Glendale as it was when it hosted the Oregon and Auburn game last January. In a study by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business the economic impact from just the championship game was over $188 million. I have to admit I made a small contribution to that number by purchasing tickets to the block party as well as a bag of the new Artisan chips I had sampled.

Boise, Idaho’s hosting of the bowl game is a perfect example of the influence of advertising and branding on these games. This game usually kicks off the college bowl season, but in recent years has had a fairly unfamiliar name to most. The bowl game has changed names and sponsors in the last decade from Crucial.com, MPC Computers, and Roady’s Truck stops all sponsoring the Humanitarian bowl, to the new name and sponsor: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

The game this year will not have a name as common as Tostitos, FedEx, or All State, but finally the fans and viewers will have something they can recognize. When almost anyone thinks of Idaho they naturally think of potatoes. Doesn’t it make sense that the game is finally represented by the symbol of Idaho? After all, the license plates even say “famous potatoes” so why hasn’t the only bowl game hosted in the state?

Idaho potato producers decided that should change this year and will pay $2.49 billion over the next 6 years to make sure the game is named after their famed product. That price includes the following:

- A 30 second welcome to the game
- Five 30 second TV ads during the broadcast
- Four 30 second radio ads during the broadcast
- Their logo on all print ads for the game
- Two full pages in the game program
- The official bowl logo having their name
- Numerous stadium signs with their logo
- Eight public address announcements
- Eight video board announcements during the game

On top of that Idaho potatoes will seal their positive image and reach consumers across the country.

The basics of this are simple. If you have the money and want to increase awareness of a new product or branding for an existing one, why not choose a bowl game to do it? Companies can use this time to reach new targets and link their name to a huge yearly event. Whether you are an athlete, a fan, or a business this could really be your best time of year.

Santa Claus is a famous man; he is loved in every household, is the star of countless movies, and has children leaving him milk and cookies every Christmas Eve. He’s the jolly old fella that we tried catching a peak of every year on the 24th of December, and is now the only thing our kids talk about when the Christmas season rolls around. His appearance is no big secret, we watch him in commercials, admire him on billboards, and take pictures with him at the mall. So it’s no surprise that when you ask someone for a description of the famous Claus, the response you get is always the same: jolly old man with a big belly, white beard, red suit with white fur lining, and a big smile on his face.

This may come as a shock, but Santa was not always “jolly”, in fact, back in the early 1900’s we was a bit of a creeper. If you saw him in person you wouldn’t let your kids get anywhere near him, let alone sit on his lap and ask him for presents. This is where Coca Cola came into play and re-created Santa into the man we all know and love.

The Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper’s Weekly in 1862; Santa was shown as a small elf-like figure who supported the Union.

In the 1920’s Coca Cola began its winter advertising with shopping-related ads to remind people that Coke was a drink for any month, not just warm weather. This began with the “Thirst Knows No Season” slogan in 1922 and grew into a campaign connecting Santa Clause with the beverage. The first images of Santa associated with Coca Cola were more of the strict looking Clause, but in the early 1930’s Coke decided that the creeper had to go and commissioned Michigan born illustrator, Haddon Sundblom to re-create the image of Claus. Thus, the new, jolly version of Santa was born.

The Coca Cola Santa has had a powerful and enduring quality that continues to resonate today, so in a way, we can say that Coke saved Christmas. If it wasn’t for the Coca Cola brand, I would be terrified to think that a creepy old elf was crawling down my chimney every year, eating my cookies, drinking my milk and sitting on my couch. Instead I am pleased to see the happy, robust, old man who greets you with a “ho ho ho” and brings the goodies you’ve been waiting all year to play with. So this year I think I’ll toss out the milk and leave Santa an ice cold Coke next to the chimney instead.

In the sports world lately, there has been a lot of talk of the “human element” in officiating. In the age of technology where instant replays truly are instant, it would seem to make sense that we could start having computers and video monitors let us know if a player was in bounds or if the pitch was a ball or strike, every time without error. This argument exploded last year in the wake of umpire Jim Joyce’s blown call on the last out of (what would have been) a perfect game in Major League Baseball.

In spite of such mistakes, some of which turn out to be extremely significant, there is a push within the sports community to keep a sense of non-automated humanity involved when it comes to officiating. Why is this? Perhaps it makes it more entertaining, but I think it has more to do with making everything more relatable. Human interaction is the driving force of our lives and community, and it is clear that people value such interaction.

In advertising and marketing, one of the main goals is get other humans to interact with what you are promoting or selling, ideally by making a purchase. A promotion that makes the product/service relatable and relevant to the human is bound to spark that sort of interaction. Showing how someone’s life could be bettered or made more enjoyable by using a product has much more impact than simply showing your best price and leaving it at that. The need for a human element exists outside of the sporting arena, and can be applied to any situation to make it more relevant, relatable, and emotionally intriguing.

When you bring the human element into your promotion, you have the ability to reach consumers’ hearts as well as their brains. Sure, a good deal can always sell, but think about how many times people spend more than they actually intended to because they made an emotional, human connection. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were handing that extra money to you?

                                              Marketing Experts in Disguise…

Amidst my 30 day cable fast (read my previous rant on the trials and tribulations of an online only lifestyle) I stumbled upon a movie on Netflix streaming, titled “The Joneses.”  It peaked my interest since it starred Demi Moore and David Duchovny.  I wondered how I had never heard of a movie with such big name stars.

Fifteen minutes in and I was hooked (warning – spoilers ahead).  The movie starts out with the perfect couple, Moore and Duchovny as husband and wife, moving into a gorgeous house in a high income suburb along with their attractive teenage daughter and son.  They are appropriately named the Joneses, and as the movie unfolds, you soon learn that appearances can be deceiving.  They are far from the perfect family, rather, a team of highly trained professional salespeople who disguise product placement as a daily routine.  Everything in their lives – clothing, furniture, electronics, cars, even their food are planned and supplied by various companies.  Each fake “family” member has daily sales goals they have to meet.  Companies use the Joneses as a stealth way to advertise their products, relying on the “family’s” popularity in the community to draw attention to their merchandise, and this, in turn, creates a want, need, and desire for their products.  The goal:  to get people to spend as much money as they can, inevitably resulting in the entire neighborhood doing whatever they have to do to “keep up with the Joneses.”  Moore’s character looks hot power walking in a velvet tracksuit, so all the other neighborhood housewives race to the mall to buy the exact same one.  Duchovny attributes his scratch golf game to the clubs he uses, and all the golfers in town buy the same set.

As far fetched as the concept seemed, I asked myself, “could a guerilla style marketing strategy like this really work?”  It was a pretty creative way for companies to get their products directly in the face of the consumers, without the cheesy sales pitches.  But, according to ScentTrail Marketing, this could never happen.  Why?  One, the ROI would be too hard to gauge, and tabulating daily sales in a timely manner would be near impossible.  Second, the amount of money the companies would need to spend to outfit the “fake families” with their products would lead to an upside down campaign. It would be difficult to sustain a profit.  Third, the cost/benefit ratio is not worth the risk.  This point was actually displayed in the movie.  People overspending themselves into bankruptcy and families breaking apart because of financial stress are lawsuits waiting to happen if the truth ever got out. And the biggest risk:  the salespeople who portray the “fake families” are only human.  Problems are guaranteed to arise once a team member gets emotionally involved with someone in the community, or they can’t take the secrets anymore and their cover is blown.  The moment the truth gets out, every company associated with the marketing plan loses credibility.  Once credibility is lost, it takes years to get it back, if ever.  Most companies can’t afford to take that risk.

Top Gun Brought Back Ray-Ban Aviator Sunglasses, and a 40% Increase in Sales

Although I agreed that the guerilla marketing plan invented for the movie was drastic and way too risky – I wondered just how much product placement and endorsement influenced our purchasing decisions.  In July, CNBC.com created a slideshow of “10 Big Successes in Product Placement.”  The numbers showed that product placement DOES work. Not surprisingly, Top Gun was high up on the list.  After Tom Cruise (aka Maverick) sported Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses throughout the movie, the sales of Aviator sunglasses increased 40%.  And probably one of the biggest stories in product placement history:  E.T. and Reese’s Pieces.  According to CNBC.com, their profits rose 65% as a result of a mention in one of the highest grossing films of all time.

Click here for the CNBC.com’s complete list of product placement success stories: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43266198/10_Big_Successes_in_Product_Placement?slide=1

As for endorsements, social media has changed everything.  Whether it’s a paid endorsement, or an honest declaration of love (or hate) for a particular product, it’s now easier than ever for celebrities to voice their opinions. Mediums such as Twitter and blogging give followers the feeling that they CAN interact with their favorite celebrities, and they CAN live just like them, as more than just fans but as equals.  Celebrities know this and never hesitate to tweet or blog about what they’re doing, where they’re going, and what they can’t live without.

 Nicole Richie shows her support for Pressed Juicery via Twitter…

Nicole Richie seen holding her Pressed Juicery Bottle – advertising in disguise

An example – those oh-so-popular juice cleanses you’ve been hearing so much about. BluePrint, Pressed Juicery, and Organic Avenue may sound familiar to you, but you probably don’t remember seeing any ads for them.  Yet, according to Marketdata Enterprises, boutique cleanses take up an increasing corner of the diet industry, recently valued at $60 Billion.   So how can an industry that runs such minimal traditional advertising be so successful?  When you have stars like Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox, Gwyneth Paltrow and Nichole Richie (all known for being gorgeous, and thin) running around 24-7 with juice in their hands (the internet has made celebrity photos accessible to anyone), or tweeting about how great they feel after a cleanse, it’s easy to see how.  Which takes us back to the “The Joneses.”  The consumer is being sold a product without even knowing it.  And, FYI – BluePrint cleanses run about $85 day for six juices (they recommend a 3 day cleanse of course), and people are willing to pay THAT much just for a chance to look and feel like their favorite celebrity.

And Olivia Wilde uses Twitter to show her love for the BluePrint Cleanse. Just one tweet from her could mean millions.

I’m sure we’d all like to think that what we buy is based on the integrity of the brand, and I’m sure it does play a part in our final decisions.  But there are many other factors involved as well.  At times, it seems the consumers care more about who’s advertising the product than the product itself.  We want to see results, and we want proof that the product actually works (ie – juice cleanses). Another factor is pure human nature.  Starting from grade school – kids are put into groups, whether they’re one of the populars, the jocks, the nerds, the goths, there are always groups.  Most kids will do whatever they can to have a part of the in crowd.  Whether it’s begging their parents to buy them the hottest shoes (when I was a kid it was the Reebok Pumps), or going to the salon to get the most popular haircut (Jennifer Aniston comes to mind).  Society is easily influenced by the latest trends (when Justin Bieber’s haircut, also known as ‘The Bieb’ is the most requested style of the year, you know society is easily swayed).  Most people will do almost anything to feel cool, even if it means getting a goofy haircut.

Now, we don’t all have a direct line into Michael Bay’s newest action flick (who’s notorious for overuse of product placement), and we don’t have the $35 Million for David Beckham’s endorsement, but that’s where traditional advertising like TV and Radio can make up the difference.  It can help carry our voice to audiences that would normally never hear it.  And there’s nothing wrong with non-traditional advertising support.  In retrospect, the Joneses in the movie weren’t celebrities, they were just normal people sharing their suggestions with friends.  When you think about it, we do that everyday.  We get together with friends and family and comment on each others newest outfits, just dying to know where they were bought.  Kids invite their friends over to play the hottest new video games.  Couples have date nights at restaurants based on their friends’ recommendations.  In reality, we are all salespeople in our own right, indirectly sending business to our favorite brands without even thinking about it. Via Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Yelp, or any other social media medium, and through personal interaction, we have the ability to market anything.  We just have to be creative about it.  Having your friends wear your line of jewelry in hopes that people will ask about it.  Fashionably wearing your company’s t-shirt in the hopes that people will ask what your company does. Having happy customers tweet about how much they love you, or Yelp about why your restaurant is the best.  We may live in a world where face to face contact is decreasing, but we are actually interacting on a bigger and broader scope.  Which may lend some truth to the phrase “The best form of advertising is by word of mouth.”

New Slogan & Logo
Being a part of the advertising community, I felt slightly guilty not investigating the rebrand further. According to the New York Times, the tweaking of the Sci Fi name (which was introduced in 1992) is part of an effort to distinguish the channel and its programming from other cable competitors. But Syfy executives saw other reasons for why launching a rebranding campaign would prove beneficial.
For one, Sci Fi is a vague name and genre that cannot be trademarked. They realized that their name wasn’t defining who they were. Potential viewers already had their own perception of the “Sci Fi genre” and they wanted to be different. It didn’t capture the full landscape of fantasy entertainment.
According to Mark Stern, executive VP of Syfy, the new name also hopes to explore the types of programming the network currently lacks, such as animation and single camera half hour shows. The new slogan, “Imagine Greater” allows creative forces limitless options towards future programming. They also saw that although the change was risky, the name is similar enough to the original brand to convey continuity to its older viewers, making confusion minimal.
But it’s not all about finding oneself in the world of advertising. The channel, which estimates their 2009 ad revenue at $408.3 million, hopes the change will offer more options to potential advertisers. A larger variety of programming targeting different demographics will help. So, is it time for a rebrand? As one participant in the branding campaign put it: “If I were texting, this is how I would spell it.” Something to think about if you’re considering a change. A true sign of the times!

The Report also listed 10 great “Take-Aways” regarding their findings.  Here are a few that I thought were worth sharing.

Brands Still Matter

According to Millward Brown, as long as consumers believe a product/service has value, they will be willing to pay for it.  I found this very interesting considering today’s economic situation.  This just shows the huge importance of creating an excellent brand image, especially in today’s market!

Don’t Be Greedy

I love this one!  The Report states, “Consumers are not in the mood for greed. And greed is not required for success. Once we are on the other side of this economic slowdown, consumer spending will pick up. But perhaps slowly, as people internalize the lessons of our recent boom and bust history. They will want quality, intelligently-created, well-designed products.  But they may not want one in every color.”

I do believe that many consumers are becoming more conscious of their spending and are moving towards simpler, more economical (and even greener) solutions for their everyday needs.  Moreover, by supporting local charities and events, not only will your community benefit, but so will your Brand!

Think Value For Money

Everyone is looking for value these days!  Frivolous spending is becoming a thing of the past, so Marketers have the renewed challenge of creating messages that can creatively and effectively communicate their Brand’s value.

Be Real

Millward Brown believes that with lower budgets and mounting concerns, today’s customers have become more serious.  Consumers want to support trustworthy brands that will meet their expectations.  Brands need to take a cue from this growing sentiment and make sure that they are not taking their customers’ needs lightly.  Not only does good marketing need to communicate value, but it also needs to show how the product/service satisfies the consumer’s needs and desires.

Stay Relevant

This is a huge one!  In today’s economic climate, more and more consumers are “trading down” in order to save money.  This definitely creates new challenges, but it also creates new opportunities!  Millward Brown sites Starbucks as a great example of staying relevant.  In order to save money, many consumers have been trading their coffeehouse drinks for brewing their own coffee at home.  Starbucks adapted to these new conditions, recently launching a range of instant coffees in order to retain these customers, and maybe even appeal to some new ones!

Source: Millward Brown, BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009,http://www.millwardbrown.com/Sites/Optimor/Media/Pdfs/en/BrandZ/BrandZ-2009-Report.pdf