When people first learn that I work in advertising, they often become enthusiastic. They want to talk about television commercials – the ones they love, and the ones they hate.

Then, they want to talk about Bewitched, or one of the dozens of other television shows and movies featuring ad agencies.

They want to know if we play most of the day. They ask if our clients buy every idea we present. And, they need to know what celebrities we have met over the years.

Sometimes, my new acquaintances say how exciting it must be to work in advertising.

They are right, of course. Even after many years, I still find our business fascinating. But, what I really love about the business is the part that rarely gets mentioned.

Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with a tulip grower in Amsterdam. We arrived just a week or so too late to see the glorious blooms of these famous flowers. So, I asked the grower – where are the tulips? He assured me that the plants were right on schedule, and the bulbs were ready to harvest. His response was a good one.

“For us,” he said. “It’s all about the bulbs.”

“Aha,” I thought. That isn’t so different from our business. Everyone wants to see the color…the show…the magic.

But, for those of us in the advertising business, it’s all about the story.

It’s about capturing the essence of a business, telling their story in an engaging way, and producing a desired action.

Yes, we have fun in our jobs. But, we work hard, too.
We meet well-known personalities. But, they tend to be real people underneath.
We present many ideas to our clients. Some they like. Others they reject.

In the end, it doesn’t matter how many dollars we spend to produce a dazzling TV commercial, or how much media we buy to reach the masses, or how many “clicks” we generate over the Internet. If the story isn’t right, the rest of the dollars are wasted.

That’s why, when people ask me what we do, I tell them simply: We are storytellers.

Of course, this is all from a writer’s perspective. Our graphic designers, media buyers and Internet marketers might tell something else is more important than the message.

The clients? Clients will say they just want results. But that’s another story.

In my ten years in advertising, I’ve helped sell health and wealth, college and knowledge, loans and phones, parts and charts, houses for spouses, flights and Web sites, crosses and sauces, tools and jewels and many other things that don’t happen to rhyme.

But I’ve never sold nothing.

What I mean is, I’ve never worked with a client who is so high up in the business stratosphere that there wasn’t a desperate need to focus their advertising on the benefits of their product or service because everyone on the planet already knows who they are and what they do.

Example: Nike. I’m trying to recall the last time I saw a Nike TV spot that pushed the supportiveness, comfort and athletic advantages their shoes provide. The ones I remember are built around superstar athletes (Michael Jordan), multi-talented superstar athletes (two-sport star Bo Jackson), freakish displays of talent by superstar athletes (Tiger Woods doing unbelievable tricks with his wedge and a golf ball), theme park rides conceptually based on the abilities of superstar athletes (The Michael Vick Experience), puppets of superstar athletes (2009’s Kobe Bryant and LeBron James spots, as well as the Li’l Penny spots from the ‘90s), and more. I think you get my drift. They’re entertaining spots, but even Spike Lee as iconic Nike spokesman Mars Blackmon would have to admit I’m right on this one — something is making Nike a ton of money, AND IT’S NOT THE SHOES.

Now obviously, these spots are selling “something”: awareness, brand image, the psychology of human experience. But those are all intangible things, not concrete features or benefits. And one could argue based on Nike’s continued success, that right now, those are actually more powerful motivators than the quality of the product itself. The question then becomes: Will there come a point when “ads for art’s sake,” or purely image-based advertising, won’t be enough for an industry leader like Nike to maintain their dominance?

My hunch is to say yes, and my reasoning is based on another titan of their respective industry, Bud Light. Entrenched in the upper tiers of the light beer market, Bud Light now has entire lines of TV advertising devoted solely to entertainment value. In one sense, their only challenge is making sure that the up-and-coming drinkers of the world remember that they exist when they’re getting their college friends to buy beer for them. Don’t believe me? Then I recommend you go back to this 2004 commercial that was the very first commercial shown during the Super Bowl that year:

At the same time, however, there are indicators that Bud Light does still feel a little bit of pressure from their competitors of the market. Hence, the launch of their “Drinkability” campaign, which is actually running parallel to their entertainment line of ads. According to their Web site, “Drinkability” is what separates them from other light beers, and represents ‘the perfect balance of flavor, filling and refreshment. It’s just the right taste the never fills you up and is easy going down.’ Perhaps I’m a little biased because I’m much more partial to microbrews, but that sure sounds like the alcoholic equivalent to rice cakes. (A little ironic, considering they actually use rice in the brewing of their beer.) Regardless it’s (to use a Bud Light adjective) refreshing to see the quality of their beer come front and center in their advertising once again.

It seems anti-climactic to say “Only time will tell whether a revolutionary shoe product will force Nike to bring the actual benefits of their shoes to the forefront of their advertising again,” but the reality is that only time will tell whether a revolutionary shoe product will force Nike to bring the actual benefits of their shoes to the forefront of their advertising again. In my experience, it’s the advertising that blends product benefits and creativity in a truly entertaining way that always seem to get the biggest praise from my friends and family who judge advertising from an outsider’s perspective. And while I don’t begrudge creatives who have the good fortune to be purveyors of “nothing,” I’m excited to see what happens when they have to start playing in a slightly smaller sandbox again.

“We want to do something that no one else has ever done!”

This is what Jeben Berg, creative director of cross-platform solutions for YouTube and Google, told me he hears several times a week from all types of companies.  Imagine being in his shoes, guiding the creative direction of one of the hottest social media platforms, tasked with coming up with the next viral video sensation…everyday.  Sounds pretty daunting.

I had the chance to have dinner with Berg last week when he was in town for a presentation to the Wichita American Marketing Association.  Listening to the challenges and triumphs of his team, my appreciation for the creative process was rekindled.  I am lucky to work with a group of very talented writers and designers.  Sometimes, I take the creative ideas for granted, and I know I shouldn’t do that.

I think it has to do with the nature of the advertising agency business.  The expectations levied upon agencies as being factories for new and innovative ways to reach audiences can lead us to think that great ideas can be manufactured like airplanes and automobiles.  The thing is, there is no great process that logically leads from one step to another and “Boom!” a winning creative idea rolls off the assembly line.

Coming up with good ideas is hard.  And the reality is that getting the idea is only half the battle.  Execution of that idea is just as critical.  Which made me think of those people who are brought an amazing idea and then asked, “How can we make this happen?”  That can be as stressful as having to come up with the idea in the first place.

I guess the point is that great advertising and creative work arrives at the mountaintop on the backs of a talented group of people each contributing their skills, either in creative conceptualizing or execution.  Many things must go right for success, but just a few wrong moves can mean disaster.  Therefore, when we see an ad that strikes us or visit a Web site that seems to get who we are, we should stop for a minute and think of everything that had to happen to bring us to that moment.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Annais.

For immediate release

Wichita, KS, June 22, 2009 – Karis Marsh has recently joined Armstrong|Shank Advertising Agency as a graphic designer.

“We’re excited to have Karis join the team,” says Susan Armstrong, President and CEO of Armstrong|Shank. “We know our clients will benefit from her strong design skills and her personality will add to our company’s very special creative culture.”

Marsh graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Wichita State University in May of 2009.

“I look forward to expanding my knowledge of the agency world, and I am excited for the opportunity to work for a company with such a diverse client base,” says Marsh.

While in school, she worked as a graphic design intern at The Strategy Group, LLC, a strategic marketing firm located in Wichita. Marsh was also a design intern at Eastminster Presbyterian Church for two years.

“I believe design is all about communicating effectively, not just looking pretty…although that is always a plus,” she said.

Armstrong|Shank is a full service marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive firm. The company has been in business 28 years.

Contact:
Susan Armstrong
316.522.3000
susan@armstrongshank.com

All of the major social media players have seen strong to explosive growth over the last 12 months. Mainstays of the social media world, MySpace and Flickr have produced modest to flat growth. Latecomers Facebook and Linkedin posted strong triple digit growth over the last 12 months, with Facebook overtaking MySpace, in terms of unique visits, in December 2008. Currently, Facebook leads all social media sites with over 90 million unique visits in the month of March 2009. However, the story of the last 12 months is Twitter, whose explosive growth of over 1,000%, bringing their May 2009 unique visitor count to just under 20 million.

A brief snapshot of visitor trends in the major social media players.

What does this all mean?
While advertisers and marketing brand managers scratch their heads trying to figure out how to integrate social media into their campaigns, some standards of traditional marketing still stand strong. Media is judged on demographics, geographic proximity, and overall audience size. We should always strive to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Not all social media sites are the same. While there are many multi-site social media consumers, it is becoming clear that the loyal MySpace user is different from the loyal Facebook user. Twitter seems to be more commonly used with the Facebook crowd. However, with no clear plan in place to monetize and buy out bids from Google and Facebook in the news every other week, Twitter’s future business model is still unclear. Linkedin, though currently trailing the aforementioned in terms of monthly visitors, appeals to the niche of business, sort of a 21st century Rotary Club.

Business objectives should be considered and benefits weighed against the resources needed to establish and maintain a proper presence on any of these channels.

What to do?
Each social media site has its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance Facebook has the largest overall audience. Brands that have done the best have built a grass roots following within that network. Friends see other friends become “fans” of the brand and join in. Another powerful feature of this property is the ability to reach this audience with timely, relevant invitations to promotional events, such as a person’s favorite local music group playing at a coffee shop that they frequent. In short, Facebook is not the largest because they appeal to everyone with one thing. They appeal to lots of small groups with many things. Brands wanting to leverage this property should be patient and let the grass roots nature of this site run its course.

With just under 60 million visitors in May 2009, MySpace is still a force to be reckoned with. Though their traffic has flattened out, they have a core audience that you will not find on Facebook. Their ability to target specific demographics makes MySpace a superior site for banner ad campaigns. This ability to target demographics, combined with their, still, massive audience should be appealing to most B2C brands.

As for Twitter, this is the first social media platform that has built itself upon the least common denominator of electronic communication, the short text message. The brilliance in the design of this site is the simplicity of participation, a la Google search. Brands that particiate in this channel need to be prepared for a much more interactive relationship with their audience, taking the good with the bad.

Linkedin seems to have the market in online business networking. Their resume-like profiles are an excellent way to filter and recruit new tallent into your organization. Additionally, Linkedin can be an excellent resource for figuring out if you have a person “on the inside” when interviewing for a job, or making a sales presentation.

Stacks of phone books

If your company invests heavily in yellow page advertising, or relies on it for leads, then you had better be giving your Web site some attention. According to a study from Telmetrics, 44% of the leads generated by print yellow page ads come from a consumer going to the company’s Web site after reading the ad.

So, what does this mean for your Web site? Well, for one, it should do a great job of communicating your core brand promise and why people should choose you over the competition.

Second, it should be customer focused. Your consumer, whether they found your site by reading a yellow page ad, searching with Google or some other means, arrived with a particular problem or question. Does your site answer questions and provide solutions or is it just a static brochure with your contact information?

What this research really speaks to is marketing integration. It is no longer enough to execute on a single advertising tactic really well and neglect the rest of the consumer process. Companies must consider how their marketing tactics work together and how to benefit from the synergy of multi-media strategies.

Next time you look at that yellow page contract, take time to consider your Web presence. Unless you’re okay missing out on 44% of your potential leads, that is.

Photo courtest of Flickr user frankh.