Message Execution & Creative Insights

Message Execution &Creative Insights MKT 846 Professor West

Agenda • Continuation with Message Execution • Turning a strategic plan into a creative campaign • Where do break-through ideas come from? • Approaches for creative inspiration: • Unique Selling Proposition • Brand Image • Inherent Drama • Lessons Learned Through Copy Testing – Purvis • Test your skills at identifying effective advertising

The Execution • How do you transform a message strategy into an exciting, attention getting, and memorable idea? • What words, sounds and music, images, setting, and lighting will best convey the message? • Where do break-through ideas come from?

Uncovering Valuable Insights • “Got Milk” Story (circa 1993) • Facing declining sales, particularly in CA • CA Milk processors formed a board and hired Jeff Manning • Manning hired Goodby, Silverstein & Partners • Objective: Increase sales, not image enhancement • Target Market: People who already drink milk, rather than nonusers

“Got Milk” Story • Results: • In the first year sales rose 1.8 percent, an increase of 13.5 million gallons, or $34 million in retail sales. • The ads win almost every major prize on the ad circuit including the coveted Cannes in 1996, 1997, 2003

“Got Milk” Story • How do you keep a good thing going? • 2001 Contest to produce your own “Got Milk” commercial • 2002 Peanut butter sandwich contest • 2003 Commercial

Milk Story Continues • How does the mustache fit in? • National Fluid Milk Processors (Milk Pep) hired Bozell to change the image of milk in 1995. • Research showed that milk was viewed as unhealthy due to cholesterol and fat • Target Market: 25-44 year old women

Milk Story Continues • The two campaigns were merged • Web Sites: www.whymilk.com • Grassroots: SHAKE STUFF UP TOUR, themed in conjunction with television advertising campaign encourages teens to Shake Stuff Up by drinking flavored milk.

Sources of Creative Inspiration • Using a unique selling proposition (USP) Rosser Reeves • “Buy this product and you will get this benefit” • The proposition must be one that the competition doesn’t offer • The proposition must be strong (relevant) enough to pull new customers

Sources of Creative Inspiration • Creating a brand imageDavid Ogilvy • “Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbols which is the brand image” • The image or personality of the brand is particularly important when brands are similar • This approach has become the mainstay in for selling soft drinks, liquor, cars, perfume/colognes, and clothing. • Your target market must identify with the brand personality

Nike Goddess • Nike has become one of the world’s greatest brand names. The Nike ethos is captured in the “Just Do It” slogan • The largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel with sales of nearly $10 billion in 2002 • While a leader in the $15.6 billion athletic market it looked for new growth opportunities by targeting women • Women’s footwear accounts for one-third of total industry, and over fifty percent for apparel but only 20 percent of Nike’s revenue.

Nike Goddess • In 2001 Nike launched a new strategic initiative termed “Nike Goddess” with the goal of changing how the company does business with women. • Objective: To double Nike’s sales to women by 2005 • Learning how women conceive of sport • Spent time scouring trendy workout locations and listening to women talk about how fitness fit into their lifestyle

Nike Goddess • Insights: • For most women, high performance isn’t about sports, it’s about fitness fitting in with their active lifestyles. • The difference between women and men is that women don’t treat athletes like heroes.

Sources of Creative Inspiration • Finding inherent dramaLeo Burnett • Advertising should be based on a foundation of consumer benefits with an emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing those benefits

Using Romance to Sell Coffee • Taster’s Choice “Brewing Romance” Campaign (circa 1990) • Product positioned as “tasting closest to fresh brewed” • McCann-Erickson was hired to kick up the emotional connection to the brand • Research revealed that Taster’s Choice drinkers were discriminating, self-assured, and sophisticated. • A spin-off of a British soap-opera style campaign (introduced in 1987) featuring two flirtatious neighbors, Tony and Sharon, was adopted.

“Brewing Romance” Campaign • UK Campaign quickly adopted an avid following • British tabloids chronicled the series • Viewers wrote in for autographs and sent script suggestions • Campaign lasted for six years and 12 episodes • Sales of Gold Blend soared by 40 percent. • Ended with Sharon and Tony wedding and driving happily off into the sunset • The campaign was expanded to the US, Canada, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan

“Brewing Romance” Campaign • US Campaign launched in 1991 • Generated a reaction similar to the UK • The debut of each new “episode” became a major media event, often premiering on network shows such as “Good Morning America.” • In February 1998, Taster's Choice ran a contest. The results were announced in Soap Opera Digest

Advertising Effectiveness • Just because an ad is creative or popular does not mean it will increase sales or revive a declining brand • Alka-Seltzer’s agencies developed ads believed to be some of the best of all time… • “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” • “Mama Mia! That’s a spicy meatball” • However they lost the account because sales continued to decline

Advertising Effectiveness • Brand managers tend to be risk averse and want more conservative commercials than the creative people they work with, who want to maximize message impact • A major determinant of success in changing brand preferences is “likeability” or the viewer’s overall reaction to the message. • Ads that are well executed and generate emotional responses can create positive feelings that are transferred to the brand

Lessons Learned Through Copy Testing • Offer a major benefit • Make it easy to follow • Establish audience identity • Attract by being new • Be believable • Stress what is unique • Be fresh • Reward the viewer/reader for his or her time

Next Time… • Turn in Project 2 by Friday afternoon • If you are interested in knowing more about using the Digital Union… • Friday, 2/6 at 10:30 in Gerlach 355

Message Execution & Creative Insights