Miss Oginy…

Ok. Here’s a funny little blast from a less enlightened past.

Actually, it’s not really funny - especially that bit with the leering priest at the end. Creepy! The irony is that this ad is targeted at women. I can’t imagine any woman thinking to herself “Y’know. That ad speaks to me as a person. That brand really understands me.” You gotta wonder how many items they sold after this campaign.

Anyway, it’s  a good thing we’ve moved on since those dark exploitationist days…right?

Guilty confession: OK, I giggled at the “Butt-Minus line”. Don’t judge me.

The Power Of Innovation…

The best way to attract new customers is to innovate in the direction of your existing customers.

Witness Coca-Cola Freestyle – the 100-flavour, self-service beverage dispenser, launched earlier this year. And that’s what it does: gives the customer access to whole stack of Coca-Cola goodness from waters and juices to teas and the traditional carbonated fizzy stuff.

For Coca-Cola, the benefit comes from the reporting technology inside the machine itself. If a certain flavour sells well, it gets increased stock. Conversely, if a flavour fails to sell, it gets pulled. So the customers get more of they want and less of what they don’t.

The trials will begin soon in Atlanta and California with the  roll-out  across the USA scheduled for early next year. Sadly, there’s no word of a global roll-out as yet.

Innovate in the direction of your existing customers. Common sense, right? You’d be amazed at how many brands fail to see this one. Some brands choose to waste money on new positioning, new logos and new campaigns.. all the things that mean more to them than their customers. And then they wind up with something like this:

Image: Coke logo vs Pepsi logo

So, for those of you who missed it the first time: the best way to attract customers is to innovate in the direction of your existing customers. Thank you for thinking of us.

PS: In case you missed how Pepsi got to that last logo (and you’re in need of a good laugh) click here.

Something’s Rotten…

So…apparently, it’s become a crime to have an opinion – at least in the USA.

Amanda Bonnen (late of the now defunct Twitter account @abonnen) has found herself staring down the barrel of a $50 000 lawsuit.

Her crime? This tweet: “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.” At the time of the tweet (May 12), Bonnen was staying an apartment  owned by the company.

Now until this week, you had probably never heard of Bonnen or Horizon Realty or this tweet. But the company has seen fit to take Bonnen to court because she dared to voice her opinion publicly – so now it’s in the news and a matter of public record – so everyone has an opinion on the matter now.

And while Bonnen had moved out recently, the company never had a conversation about the post and never asked her to take it down.

So how did this lawsuit come about? Here’s Horizon’s Jeffrey Michael: “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.” Well done Jeffy ol’ boy. That’s just the kind of company image you want to portray: a mindless, arrogant, litigation-addicted machine.

In my opinion, Horizon Realty is out of their depth. How can they prove that this single tweet (which went out to the 20 people in Bonnen’s follower list) amounts to $50 000 worth of damage? Did they experience a $50 000 downturn in business after this tweet that can be linked explicitly to this tweet alone? Moreover, can they prove it?

I doubt it. And any damage their company’s image will suffer will be through their own cack-handed handling of this situation.

If I was a tenant in any of Horizon’s buildings, I’d be afraid. You’re all probably next on the Jeffy’s hitlist.

PS: I’ll let you know if Jeffy-boy tries to sue me as well for daring to have an opinion about this.

Boxes…

Following from yesterday’s post about buzzwords that have had their day in the sun…

Thinking out of the box is dead - as a saying and a philosophy. What the hell does it mean anyway?

Creatives need boxes. Without boxes, all we’re really doing is indulging in creative masturbation. Boxes gives us a guide, a set of rules to play by. And we need the rules.

Without rules, you have chaos.  Imagine what a game of football would be like without rules. Chaos, right?

Don’t get me wrong. Chaos isn’t bad…if its energy is harnessed correctly. So we need boxes…

Here’s the kicker: the best bit about boxes is no-one can tell us what kind of box it should be.  Rectangular, heart-shaped, circle, triangular, cylindrical – any colour, any material, any size you can think of…it doesn’t matter, as long as what you fill it with, fits.

Don’t think out of the box. Change the box. Fill it with ideas that fit.

A Quick Copywriting Tip…

Center of excellence. Service-oriented. Best-practice. Market-leader. Best of breed.

Do you know anyone who actually talks like that? Me neither.

Ironically, you’ll find these lines popping up from brands that say they want to be “more human” in their communication.

Sure, they’ll leave it out at first. But then it’s like OCD. They just can’t help themselves. They see a place for one and they add it. Then they add another…and another…and soon the copy looks nothing like it was intended and reads like a just another brochure.

Then they sit and wonder why no-one pays any attention to them…

Lines like “At the end of the day” are tacky. Tell your clients. Tell your copywriter.  Leave them out.