Welcome to the DMA’s Creative Certification Course

Part Two

Creative Rules that Work for Print Thurs., Oct 18, 2012 ; 8:30am - 12:00pm

Slides 1-61

Presented by Alan Rosenspan &

Carol Worthington-Levy

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Our goals

• Share the key drivers of both effective direct mail and print advertising

• Show you how to create more effective print advertising

• Show you how to improve every element of the direct mail package – from format to letter copy

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Certificate Section 2:

How to GetThe Best

Print Work

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How to Evaluate Space

Advertising

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• Designers, in particular, like to create bold visual statements in space ads

• But - If the customer has to think for more than a moment, the message won’t get through… no matter how flashy you are

• In a matter of seconds, you can lose them… or you can reel them in!

Space advertising is more challenging than most realize

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7 handy points for keepingyour space advertising creative on track

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Point 1:The best visuals are the things

your customer ismost interested in.

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Don’t bother showing prospects something that impresses you and your peers.

You’re not the customer.

Find out what your customer loves.

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Does this make you want to buy a big screen TV?

What would inspire YOU to buy a big screen TV?

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Maybe this?

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or this?

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Lands’ End promisesmore than

just warmth…

They use photography that really says ‘soft’ and use a phrase that tells us that it’s exquisite without saying that.

And we want this sweater.

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For a traveler looking for beauty and solitude…

Saying something negative about your product or service does not sell it well!The great outdoors shouldn’t look gray and barrenMonochromatic ads/subdued color is more likely to be ignoredPS – who would struggle to read this ad? Hint: Comprehension of a written message is reduced to only 10% when the type is reversed-out sans serif type

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What if that same traveler sees this ad?

Why does this ad have so much more appeal?• It’s more colorful, a really eye-catching presentation• The fire and little tent look so invitingBUT… Some of their effort is wastedHow many of you see the idea they wanted to get across?Is it a pretty nice ad even without that? Subtlety is often wasted in space advertising

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Point 2:Your customers are looking

for answers to their problems.

The more convoluted or arty you make it,

the less they’ll ‘get it’

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Which Vacuum ad draws in more customers?

This one… or….

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… or this one?

• Mr. Oreck is a personification of their BRAND• What makes this guy so appealing?• Why would someone read all this copy?• What’s in it for the reader?

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Dell tells us some good news

… PLUS you feel like they’re just like you –

“THANK GOODNESSIt only looks expensive.”

You like Dell a little more because of this ad.

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You can almost hear OOHs and AAHs…

Who wouldn’t want a product that, in moments, turned them from hostess to hero?Pepperidge Farm is ‘winking’ as they’re giving you the solution to the ‘what will I serve my special guests for dessert?’ question

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Lands’ End gives us more good news

The promise to a road warrior that they’ll always look their best, with little to no effort

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A promise of more sales… in less spaceThis company makes “Beer Salt” – which is popular with the Latino beer enthusiasts.

With this product next to the cash register, a 7-ll can triple their beer sales. (The display is so small, it fits there easily!)

No need to educate them about beer salt – just show them that this is the road to profitability!

Offer!

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Point 3:Take them by surprise…

intrigue them!

But again, make sure it’s interesting to the reader

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Does this make you curious?

Insurance advertising is rarely surprising or engaging

But with a headline like this, you can’t help but be drawn in to find out what Liberty Mutual has to say

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How to get someone to consider a vacation in freezing cold Churchill, Canada

The more specific you are to your audience, the less you have to tell them, and the more interested they’ll be in your adNote – no explanation of what a Tundra Buggy is. None needed. Let’s go see the Polar Bears!

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Humor can be risky but …

The target audience is someone who would use Adobe Photoshop to make changes in photos

This un-subtle approach immediately shows the benefit and fun of Photoshop

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If you’re a media buyer, this kooky

scenario would stop you in your tracks

This ad’s point: Anyone — even a bride heading down the aisle — won’t be able to resist looking at your advertising on the ROVI TV schedule!

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Point 4:“The Prospect as Hero”

Use an ad to show the reader how they, too, can be the hero

in their workplace or home

… if they follow your advice!

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Want to be a hero, like Sam?

Who wouldn’t like to save their company or client $23,000 in postage?What would their boss say?Would their client be happy?If we can get our prospect thinking in those terms, we have their attention

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Dad will love it – and love you more!

This tiny space ad sells ice cream for father’s day

Another ‘prospect as hero’ approach

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Copy and imageshow our

prospect asa hero

Here’s how to say ‘The new Anritsu Site Master lasts all day without recharging... Just like you.’

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Point 5:Take a service or other ‘hard to explain’ product

from obscure to something your prospect can relate to –

and hear the phone ringwith new business!

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What are they telling us, and do we care?

Eyecatching? Yes.Relevant? No.Plays on words and visual tricks don’t tell people who you are or why they should talk to you“The ones who need us know who we are” is a cop-out

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Product that’s hard to define?

Tell the story simplyWhen telling about a software system that enables someone to see dozens of other systems simultaneously, it’s easy to find examples…JugglersLion tamersBut why go there?Show them the benefit.

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Another story – and an ad that worked

This guy used B&B Electronics wireless components and consulting to reconnect communications between two buildings without digging out the parking lotHats off to Otis Maxwell who wrote that this wireless system ‘saved his asphalt.’We all love a good story, with a hero at the end

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A story of how we almost lost our way…

Xtime is the developer of a highly comprehensive customer service system for auto dealershipsUnlike other services that have some customer service pieces, Xtime has it all in one convenient package…Customer histories at their fingertips. No more ‘robocalls’ to frustrate customers. No more wasted money on mailers for service they don’t need. No more question of whether the parts are in. No more customers wondering when their service will be done.Xtime handles it all and more.

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How could we tell operations managers that this unique service is

exactly the solution they’ve beenlooking for?

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Brainstorm.“Xtime is like…”

Xtime is like a finely tuned pit crew in Nascar… where each worker is expert in what they do, fast and true. They help you to win the competition for more customers

When you have Xtime, it’s like you have hired the world’s best customer relationship manager, on call 24/7 Xtime’s multi-pronged

system of service is like your own service bay, where you have experts for each need, all working together

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A concept was chosen and we forged aheadThe pit crew concept was chosen…Because it was colorful and seemed like a winning ideaBut this was not really the most intelligent solution.How do you stop a moving train?Sometimes you just have to step out of the way…

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But then, just in time, someone spoke up…

We put on the brakes and decided that the ad really could wait another month or two so it would be the right communication

We went to work again…

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We got ourselves a winnerThis final ad is inspired by the life of the fixed operations managerEveryone wants him to solve all of their problemsHe is seeking a way to reduce the post-it notes on his computer monitor and make everyone happyThis ad has been running for months now – it is doing its job well

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Point 6:Size may not matter as much as you think

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Small space ads can pack a punch

• A $70 piece of jewelry with natural chakra stones strung on black jeweler’s cord.• A shoestring budget• Choose the market who is likely to buy it — affluent, open-minded individuals. Aim directly and fire.• Small ads: 2.25 x 4.125 in. A 6-ad set in New Yorker, run every other monthSold out in 6 months. Profit was in six figures.Website? It was there but most customers just bought directly from this adNote – even in tiny ad, there’s an offerSee the website with the cool magnifying glass function at http://chakranecklace.com/

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Small space ads can pack a punch

With tiny space ads, one big idea is essentialOn the far right: see which ad designs do best in the small space environment: simple, even black and white

The worst performers: photos of art, lots of color, reversed out type

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How a few small space ads can dominate a spread

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Two 1/3 page ads and two 1/8 page ads

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Exploring new print media?

• Put your toe in the water with ads in a ‘marketplace’ or ‘directory’ in that publication• Watch to see who runs again and again – they are the ones for whom the ad space is working• Which ads attract our attention first?

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Point 7:An offer is part of

every successful effort –even space advertising

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This ad is almost ALL offer

Rumored to be the most successful space ad Intuit ever ran for Quickbooks

How do they know?

It has an offer.

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Lead with the offer, blow the doors off

Sweeps offers generate excitement Attention-grabbers If media is well targeted, you get many more names of interested prospectsYou get more dead wood too but it can pay off

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Offers create a reason to start a conversation

The offer is a FREE solutions kit that is useful for anyone in this business

The free consultation will get less response, but it still opens a door

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The offer in this ad -

Avoid discounting your product – instead add value as they have with this triple bonus

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Don’t hide your offer

• People miss offers that are hidden. • Use a banner. Use a burst. Do anything to make sure the offer is clear

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Tacky? Or effective?

• Beauty contest winner, or great ROI?

FREE Benchmark

Study$200 value

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To this market, here’s the ultimate offer

This ad sells Praise and Worship tapes in a continuity series, to active Christians

The offer is a tape that is not sold anywhere – it is only available through this offer

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Anyone here doing space ads?If time, we can do some quick critiques…

‘7 points for space advertising ’ quick reminder list1. Relevant visuals

2. Solve a problem for your prospect

3. Surprise or intrigue them

4. The Prospect as hero

5. Take on a new way to explain a complex or abstract product or service

6. Size tests and trial runs

7. Offer in the ad

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Questions?

Be sure to ask me for a FREE CD

About how to make your email work harder and perform better!

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Time for Alan Rosenspan!

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Key Driver #1

IT MUST BEOFFER-CENTRIC

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Offer-Centric?• In most cases, it is more effective to sell the offer –

not the product

• The direct mail package and the print ad should be all about the offer

• “Wait, there’s more…” • •• No one will ever wait

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• None of these had an offer

Prior mail “controls”

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New control by CWL TEAM

A DM package

We were not able to talk them into an

offer