Tag Archives: Dingo’s breakfast

The power of music

Posted on September 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

At the moment, there’s a team seated a few desks over from me who are busy putting a TV ad together. They’re trying to decide on the music they’ll use (or create). Music should always be given the upmost consideration because it can make or break an ad. They don’t call it ‘the golden thread of film’ for nothing.

To illustrate this point to clients, I like to show them this ad from a few years back for Tourism Victoria…

Then, I show them the same ad, but where someone has put the music from Donnie Darko behind it…

I think you’ll see just how much of a role music plays in the mood and feeling of an ad.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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Information, entertainment and a beer with Daz

Posted on September 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

Recently I caught up with an old mate, Daz, for a beer.

Daz has an interest in a small business called Bark Blowers. Put simply, this service allows customers to have sand, soil, blue metal, pebbles or mulch installed without having to unload/reload on site. Through a powerful pneumatic hose system, you quite literally spray the product wherever you want it.

Recently, they’d done a commercial through a regional TV station. The station produced the ad for very little cost but he was unhappy with it. He said it was wall-to-wall voiceover and seemed like it just yelled ‘heaps of shit’ at the viewer. Knowing I worked in advertising, he asked my opinion on whether ads should be packed full of information, or whether having a strong element of entertainment was more important.

I answered that it’s an age-old topic discussed between advertisers (who tend to support ‘information’) and their agencies (who tend to support ‘entertainment’). Having worked for a regional TV station in a previous life, I also told him that they produced his ad so cheaply because their motive was to give him something he could run on air (where they make their money in air time).

I suggested that these are some things he might like to consider:

  1. Nobody turns on their TV to be yelled at (or even sold to, for that matter).
  2. Information-rich may be received favourably by those viewers who, at the very time of the ad going to air, are in the market for the services of his product.
  3. On the other hand, taking the ‘entertainment’ route  will give your message a longer shelf life, provided it’s done well. This is because good ads get noticed by more people. So, besides getting noticed by those who are currently in the market, the entertainment factor also often appeals to those who are not in the market at that particular time. However, there’s a good chance they’ll recall it in the future if they need that service.
So, in this way, the ‘entertainment’ route gives you more bang for your buck, provided the entertainment part of your ad is relevant. 
However, this  chat with Daz over a beer also highlights another of the challenges facing Adland at the moment – namely, the longevity of an ad or campaign, and how to get the most value from it.
This topic is discussed here, where a few of the readers’ comments suggest the way marketers should rethink their communication strategies.
Similarly, Nick Law from R/GA talks about this subject in a video filmed in 2009.
It might seem that in a ‘throw away’ world, we’ve even made the advertising too disposable.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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ADMA Forum 2011

Posted on August 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

I was asked to give a talk at the ADMA (Australian Direct Marketing Association) Forum last week – a simple ten-minute presentation showing an interesting example where an organisation has used mail as part of their marketing communications.

I could’ve found a big, dimensional mail pack with lots of wow-factor but, let’s face it, not many marketers have the budget to do those. So I looked for a nice, simple example of a letter and envelope. And I came across this one from Zurich Insurance, produced by Publicis Dialogue in London (source: Directory, directnewideas.com).

The copy says:

Dear Miss Philips,

Yours sincerely,

<Customer Relations Guy’s name>

Actually, we’ve got lots to tell you about. But we can’t say anything until you tick this box.

Yes, I’d like to receive information about special offers.

According to the case study, the problem was that 25% of Zurich customers had opted out of receiving marketing communications. This letter convinced 7% of recipients to change their mind and opt back in. A pretty good result.

‘Opting out’ is pretty bad news for marketers, because it’s the customer saying, ‘I don’t want to hear from you anymore’. It’s the end of the conversation, and if the customer ended it, it must not have been that good in the first place.

What many marketers don’t really want to acknowledge is that your starting point is this: People don’t care what you have to say.

As blunt as it sounds, it’s true. People are too time-poor and you’re just one of many  organisations yelling and selling at (potential) customers.

So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s pretty simple – don’t create ‘ads’. An ad is something people avoid. Rather than create ads that try and interrupt or invade people’s lives, create something people seek out and engage with. Now, many people might say, ‘People don’t actually seek out ads do they?’ Yes, they do. Provided they’re good and/or relevant enough.

Howard Gossage, muttered these words during the Madmen era, and they’re probably more relevant now than they’ve ever been:

“People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.”

For example, take a look at The Old Spice Response campaign.

20 million views in the first three days, 40 million in the first week. Website traffic up by 300%, and sales up by 107% – here is a case a people seriously ‘opting-in’ to a brand.

Now, I’m not suggesting we go and make personalised videos every time we want to talk to a customer but there are some important points we can take on board, whatever medium you use…

  1. Successful brands are not defined by a logo, a typeface and a colour palette. Successful brands are defined by what they do and how they do it.
  2. Successful brands push the boundaries. They don’t play by the rules, they rewrite them.
  3. Let your brand speak like a person (i.e ‘Dear <first name> <last name>, As a valued customer…’ is not speaking like a person).
  4. Provided you’re not delivering bad news, have some fun. Fun is infectious. It’s what people want to interact with. If you have fun making your communications, people will have fun watching, reading or listening to them.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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In ads, less is always more

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 2 comments

We all know what good ads do: they say one thing, and they say it well.

Yet, many advertisers, in a bid to get the most bang for their buck, often try and fit as much into an ad as they can.

We all know it dilutes the message, and a few weeks ago a colleague passed on some research to support this…

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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#fail: Most marketers and their use of social media

Posted on July 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

It still amazes me how many marketers just don’t understand social media. Many only see the word ‘media’ without taking any notice of the word before it – ‘social’.

After all, marketers should feel like they know about media. They have a long relationship with it. Or as one of my uni lecturers once put it, ‘Most media exists solely for the purpose of delivering an audience to marketers’.

But, ‘social’ media? No, it’s a different beast altogether.

The dictionary defines ‘social’ as:

1. pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations: a social club.

2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.

3. of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society: a social event.

So in general terms, social media is about people mixing, being friendly, having fun. If you’re a brand and you’re not doing this, well, you have no business being there.

It’s painfully obvious if you’re just trying to sell something and turn a quick dollar. And while other mediums might have grown up in an era where the interruption model of advertising reigned, social media didn’t.

This means people won’t accept being interrupted by commercial messages the way they have been in the past (actually, with the advent of things like TiVo and Time Shifting, you could argue that interruptive advertising’s best days are long gone).

Sure, other people may have a conversation about your brand using social media, but when you do it yourself, it just doesn’t work. And here’s the reason why: when you’re trying to apply some kind of sales message in social media, more often than not, you end up sounding like that ‘mate’ you only ever hear from when he wants a hand moving heavy furniture. He never rings you just to share a joke, or to catch up over a beer. In fact, the only time you ever hear from him is when he wants something.

Is that the kind of relationship you want your brand to have with its customers?

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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Is your smart phone making you dumb?

Posted on June 1, 2011 | 2 comments

Okay, let me start by saying that I might be the only person working in advertising who is yet to surrender to the iPhone phenomenon. Looking around the office and the hardware that people sit on the tables at meetings, these gadgets are everywhere. And it seems those few who aren’t in bed with Steve Jobs have an Android version.

On a daily basis, I listen to people talk about how much fun they have with the latest app they’ve downloaded. Wherever they are in the office, they receive the all-staff email about the leftover, free muffins in the kitchen. When any dispute or question arises, they pull out their trusty gadget and have the answer within a few taps. They’re probably the kings of Trivia Night at their local pubs.

But not me. Why? Why do I resist this temptation and put up with jibes like ‘Hey, nice Motorola V3. Is that similar to the one Gordon Gecko had in Wall Street?’

Well, firstly I just don’t think the iPhone works as a phone that well – at least not yet, anyway. All the other functions seem to work fine, but try and call somebody to actually speak with them, and all bets are off.

But my laggard ways to adopt a smart phone run deeper. I actually suspect that these devices may be removing people’s ability to think – much like calculators have replaced my Art Director’s ability to do long division.

Think about it (no pun intended). These days we’re conditioning a society where you don’t actually have to know anything apart from how to open a browser and do a search. You don’t even have to know how to spell what it is you’re searching for – the search engine will understand what you mean and make any necessary adjustments.

If you don’t believe me, simply try it for yourself. I just Googled “how to cross a raod” (sic) and 361,000,000 answers were delivered to me in 0.15 of a second. That’s even faster than Usain Bolt could cross the road (providing he had Googled it earlier).

In this age of immediate access to information, we’re also breeding impatience. Once upon a time if you wanted to know the answer to something, you dragged your arse to the library and looked it up. These days, if our Internet connection is a bit slow and takes, heaven forbid, 5 seconds to deliver our 361 million answers, there’s usually swearing involved.

Look, I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. I’m not the main character from The Mosquito Coast. I’m not against the Internet and all the information it makes accessible. It’s great. I just think we have to be conscious of being plugged into all that information constantly. There are plenty of benefits to carrying a smart phone, but you should also consider the cost (and no, I’m not talking about when you exceed the data allowance on your cap plan).

Even good things need balance. Take water – it’s essential for life, but have enough of it, and it can kill you.

So, along with our newfound fondness of instant gratification (lack of patience), let me ask you this: when’s the last time you looked out the bus window and just pondered? Or sat in a park or shopping centre and just watched all the people pass by? When’s the last time you simply sat down and thought about a problem to arrive at your own solution, rather than looking up someone else’s?

The truth is that you need downtime. You need the freedom to think. So unplug yourself, at least for a little while each day, because your dreams and ideas will never happen unless you give them an environment to live in.

And if you still don’t believe me, well, look up ‘Daydream’ on Wikipedia.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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Is social media really that social?

Posted on May 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

As a society we’re more connected than ever before. We know what our friends are doing at seemingly any hour of the day. We’ve had a look through their latest holiday photos. We’ve even been able to catch up with that person we haven’t seen or heard of since the last day of school.

But I wonder what impact it’s having on the day-to-day manner in which people interact. Years ago, a colleague of mine made a short film where friends were supposedly ‘catching up’ over a coffee. Instead, they sat in a café and took turns answering their mobile phones and barely even spoke to each other.

Like that short film, I wonder how many people are too busy chatting with cyber friends instead of speaking to real people that may be right in front of them. In a modern family, would it be uncommon to see one parent answering work emails on their Blackberry, the other parent chatting with friends on Facebook, one child checking what their mates are doing on Twitter, and another child having a conversation with someone via SMS?

Look, I’m no luddite. I realise that these ways of communicating have many benefits but is anyone stopping to question if there’s a downside (and no, I’m not talking about bad reception or no Wi-Fi)? I’m talking about face-to-face interaction taking a serious backseat to the digital stuff.

Some people may argue that television was just as interruptive to how families or groups communicated (or didn’t) when it arrived on the scene. However, in defence of television, it is a more communal medium. A group of people all sit around and share the same experience, often using it as the basis of a conversation. And the other thing is that TV (at least how it exists in its current form) is a fairly passive medium. You just sit in front of it, and it all comes to you. It doesn’t take you away into a separate conversation or experience, excluding the other people who may be sitting in the room with you.

For example, I think a person having an ongoing conversation via SMS while other people are in the same room is a little like whispering to someone in the presence of others. When I was a child I was taught that this was rude behaviour because it’s alienating. However, these days, if it’s the same behaviour but uses technology, it’s seemingly appropriate.

These technologies were designed to aid human interaction, not replace it, so the ground rules and basic manners should still remain the same.

So next time you’re using social media or spending time online, just keep in mind that you could be missing out on much more than someone’s status update. Or put another way, you don’t want the only social life you’re living to be a digital one.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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Most questions are good. Aren’t they?

Posted on May 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

Have you ever been in one of those meetings where people don’t really like questions being asked? Or what about those scenarios where some items simply aren’t up for discussion?

Every now and then you run into them – a client who doesn’t want to be challenged, a planner who doesn’t like you to interrogate a creative brief, a suit who doesn’t like you asking why the creative work needs to be amended as requested, a creative who doesn’t want to answer why they’ve done something a certain way.

Well, I think there’s a lot to like about questions, and I’m not the only one. Voltaire (1694 – 1778), the French author and philosopher, said this: ‘Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers’. So why my love of questions? Well, I have a few reasons.

Firstly, questions help to clearly define the objectives. They put things into context and force people to focus on what the actual problem is. It’s amazing how many times people can get caught up trying to devise a solution that won’t solve the real problem that’s at hand. And, to put it simply, it’s a waste of effort (and money) when people do this – they’re mistaking momentum for progress. It’s no good doing something if it’s not the right thing to be doing.

Secondly, asking questions helps identify if there are mixed agendas and motives on the table. When things aren’t all pulling in the same direction, you’re not going to achieve as much because there are different factions at work.

Another reason is that it’s a very rare occasion where solutions are found without asking questions. Even when things are discovered by serendipity (like penicillin), it’s because questions are being asked.

I once worked for a Creative Director who said that questions should never be seen as a sign of weakness or lack of knowledge. Instead, they show that you’re eager to learn and want a more thorough understanding of a subject.

In my experience, when people don’t like questions being asked it’s usually because: 1) they don’t know the subject well enough to answer them; or 2) they’re trying to cover up something they know defies logic or is fundamentally flawed.

Sure, there are times when people ask questions just for the sake of saying something in a meeting. And there are times when people ask questions to try and develop problems where there are none. But if you’re being deterred from asking valid questions, well, surely questions need to be asked. Don’t they?

Look at Columbo. He just loved questions…

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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Always ask ‘why?’

Posted on April 10, 2011 | 1 comment

Last week a colleague left the agency to travel overseas. She was a very good Account Manager and has a very bright future ahead.

She had come to the ad agency as a university graduate three years ago and this had been her first advertising job. As part of the graduate induction program, she started her career here by spending a couple of weeks in each department to learn how an agency worked.

In her two weeks sitting in the Creative Department alongside my Art Director and I, we offered her lots of tips and advice, but this I consider amongst the most important: Always ask ‘why?’

It seems simple but often this small question is overlooked. It’s imperative that you know the reason why you’re doing something. Not only does it make you aware of any other agendas that are at play, it helps your understanding and makes sure the solution provided actually fits the problem.

If you’re simply relaying a message from the client (or anybody else), you are effectively reducing your role to that of an expensive answering machine.

Put simply, if you’re unaware of the motive, don’t carry out the action.  Doing so just makes you look like one of these monkeys.

DUSTIN LANE
Brand Strategy | Advertising Concepts | Copywriting
Visit risinggiants.co or dustinlanecreative.com

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