A different treatment makes the Nike commercial interesting

At times, the treatment of a commercial becomes the difference that makes it stand out from the clutter.

This Nike commercial is a good case in point.

If you look at the storyline, it is as simple as can be. A league football player making it big-he becomes a part of Arsnel and the perks and the attention that are a given for players in the elite league. And finally, the story coming full circle with him executing the same free kick at the next level.

Simple and straightforward. Except that the camera throughout is from the player’s point of view. And because of the different perspective a normal story becomes: “Now, it looks interesting from this point of view, let’s see what all happens”.

Full marks to this commercial for grabbing the viewer’s attention. The first, and the most important task, of any advertising.

How to let the context set up the product attribute – The Corolla way

In advertising there’s always the easy way. Take a feature, do the boring brand window, do a couple of close ups with dramatic CGI effects take the music to a crescendo and finish off with a well modulated voice over. Another commercial in a sea of me-toos.

It takes a bit of daring to take the meta level of a singular thought and plug away at it relentlessly. Over the years, the Corolla brand has stood for quality and reliability. The brief has been to reinforce the consensual opinion that this car has rock solid reliability.

With such a bedrock of brand belief all that the current commercial does is to clue in the reliability in an interesting and engaging manner that becomes another chapter in the continuing brand dialogue with its target audience.

Do Brands need rebranding to achieve business restructuring?

The business goal of any brand is to create more users, new users or new uses by continually innovating to add value to customer’s lives. With great brands come great benefits — including higher customer loyalty, increased opportunities and elevated profits.

A corporate rebrand can be extremely powerful if created and communicated properly; it can unite employees behind a common cause and engender pride, symbolize a shared vision, break with the past, signal a future (direction) and create a difference that drives the top line and profit.

But if it does not achieve these elements, it can become a very costly “paint job” — a waste of a great deal of money.

The successful corporate rebrand is achieved by creating preference (e.g. Intel), building emotional bonds (e.g. Disney) which communicate a unique position in the marketplace (e.g. Gap), thereby creating shortcuts for customer decision-making (e.g. Caterpillar) that help insulate against competitive pressure (e.g. McDonald’s) by delivering efficiency to marketing and sales efforts (e.g. Microsoft) and unifying an organization (e.g. GE).

There are four definitive components for building and managing great brands. Each supports and enhances the other. And they’re all achievable by any organization (and they do not require new logos).

* Igniting a great idea
At the core of all great brands is a great idea that people inside and outside of the business can buy into. Great brand ideas are unique, true and selfless. They’re based on universal ideas, such as convenience, magic or individuality. They’re simple enough for people everywhere to “get” and they reflect real, living attributes of the organization.

* Dynamic leadership
Successful brands come from organizations that manage brands right from the top. Why? First, brands are valuable. Second, brands permeate all departments and must be managed where they all converge — at the CEO’s office. Third, great brands are actions, not just words. Marketers can talk about a brand, but unless it comes to life through actions, it’s simply not believable. Leadership psyche is the key to a successful strategy as it sets the example on the organizational style and the direction employees need to take for all brand actions and communications.

* The right talent
In a rapidly changing world, organizations must adapt and change. People are a brand’s greatest asset, and the most important thing a CEO can do is have a continuous recruitment strategy in place — even if you have fired one-third of the company — that constantly searches for new talent both internally and with outside partners. A good brand will only become great when the members of the organization believe in it and live it out as they work.

* Encouraging culture
How do you take your people forward through change? Building a brand that has clear meaning to your employees requires delivering short-term actions that can take the brand deeper into the employee relationship. Therefore, what are the rock-hard beliefs your people can hold on to? Why? True values extend far beyond the bounds of a brand book. Instead they are anchored in human emotions, concerns, aspirations and ambitions.

In summary, great brands are built by igniting big ideas, creating dynamic leadership, supporting the right talent and encouraging the culture. A mix that takes patience and time to achieve. Undertaking a rebranding exercise to achieve all this is whistling in the dark for a dog which will never turn up.

The moral high ground – Dove and the issue of real vs imposed beauty

All of cosmetic advertising for women has followed a set pattern for decades. Show flawless hair, flawless skin, glowing, mesmerising and yes tie everything in with a product benefit.

The ingredient ‘x’ or wonder effect ‘Y’ that will transform the consumer into an elevated being who swimmingly enters the domain of superbeautifulbeings.

It was a compact that everyone in the industry adhered to. Till someone at Dove thought otherwise.

Dove “Evolution” is like a member of the mob turning state witness. Like they would say at Old Trafford: “It’s just not cricket, ol’ chap!”. After years of using the same production tricks, after effects, photoshop pyrotechnics Dove finds it all very sinful.

Great. But the problem is that sudden declarations of moral high ground are just a little bit suspect. As in the same breath you are also trying to pull down everyone else.

A sniff of vested interest?

What the marketing honchos at Dove forgot was what Ogilvy said: “The consumer isn’t a moron, she’s your wife.”

See “Evolution” video here:

Is this the future of advertising?

It is small, cute, almost non-obtrusive and maybe an indicator of the types of media advertising has to adapt itself to in the future.

The key to most brilliant things lies in their simplicity and singularity of purpose.

Chumby (www.chumby.com) is a wireless network device that displays widgets, let’s you check email, displays photos, streams Internet radio, displays headlines as they happen, shows you You Tube videos, serves as a wake up alarm…while you go about your morning or evening routine.

It’s small. The touchscreen is only 3.5 inches across. The information or the widgets change every 30 seconds. But you can interact with the device. Say a thumbnail of a YouTube video pops up. Just tap on it for the video to play.

Now think. How would an ad widget work with this device? Will it be at the level of a YouTube video. A special offer that opens up as the consumer taps. Or, even a brilliant way to deliver direct mail. The possibilities are endless…

Advertising, it is said, is a reflection of the context we all live in. As technology evolves from the PC to singular web-devices like chumby, ads need to adapt and evolve a new grammar to exploit the medium to the fullest.

Writing Copy for the Web

Writing for the Web
Your opening words must tell people how they will benefit from visiting the site. You must also give people a brief idea about the nature of the site – what specific product or service is it selling / what free product or service is it offering / what can people expect to find at your site?

The Heading
On the Web, there isn’t time for cute headings – people want information and they want it now!
So you need to let your readers know exactly what you’re offering in your heading. Your heading should be no more than four or five words – the fewer the better.e.g.

Free Software
Web Design
Improve Your Writing
A Joke a Day
Learn HTML
How to Relieve Pain

Words that Appeal
There are a number of words which have been shown to appeal to readers, some of these are:

Free – New – Proven – Secret – Success – Instant — Fast –
Simple — How to — Save Easy– Limited time only

Always try to include at least a couple of these words in your ad.

Personal Pronouns
We’re all most interested in ourselves, so direct all your comments to you, the reader.
Use you, your, yours wherever possible.

Include we, our, ours throughout your ad, but use I, me, mine very sparingly.

Give Facts. Don’t say: make “thousands of rupees” with this scheme, say: we’ll “see a 20% increase in sales within the first year” – and it will be more likely for people to believe you.

Use numbers if possible – “101 Uses for Plastic Shopping Bags” is more likely to gain attention, than “Things to do with plastic shopping bags”.

Don’t use adjectives and adverbs.

Don’t be clever if it means some of your readers won’t understand your ad.

Organization of Ideas
You should always start with the greatest benefit to the reader:

Expected improvements in finances, health, career, romance, appearance, security, self-esteem

Removing worry

Eliminating unpleasant tasks

Reducing physical, mental pain

End with an Appeal for Action
Always finish your ad by telling your readers what you want them to do:

Click here for more information

Act now

Go to our secure order form

These simple rules will help you create engaging and relevant web content.