A new advertising agency for companies that would rather outsmart the competition than outspend them

I'm currently reading Juicing the Orange by Fallon and Senn. Blown was I, when my eyes hit the third page. The third page shows the opening ad of Fallon McElligott Rice. A manifesto with an almost absurd amount of copy. Certainly because straight down (long)copy ads were long time out of fashion by the time the ad ran, July 20, 1981. They felt it was essential to articulate their vision. Twenty-five years later, the statistics are worse, and globalization and technology have changed the marketing environment, but the solution is the same: applied creativity. I read the tiny typeset ad 4 bloody times in a row. Because it was a nifty crafted piece of copy, but mostly because what the ad said was so "now" even though it ran 28 years ago.

Like so many in our business I find myself a numerous amount of times listening to some self-proclaimed guru who walks the talk and thinks he himself should be awarded a medal for sharing his mastermind visions with you. More often than not scraping pieces from manifesto's of some decades ago. It sickens me to see and hear these gut-shots claim eternal greatness while the same story has been told much better by guys who've shaped the industry years ago. Lots of people waive Ogilvy's rules and bold statements as old fashioned and out of business. But, many seem to have forgotten that he cemented the foundations of the industry, and envisioned the rise and importance of Direct long time ago. He should be studied and praised by everyone who tries to advertise anything at all. As too for this legendary Fallon ad which I've included further down this post. Of course one must note that the ad sings widely from the Bernbach bible but its message and content remains key to what most agencies strife for nowadays.


A new advertising agency for companies that would rather outsmart the competition than outspend them.

"I know that only half of my advertising works. The trouble is I don't know which half."
— John Wanamaker

If you're spending money on advertising, you've probably wondered: Is anybody out there listening?
The answer to that question is a shock.
Consider the following facts: American business will spend over $54 billion on advertising this year. According to one estimate cited in The Journal of Advertising Research, that money will buy over 200 thousand messages per person, or approximately 560 messages every day for every man, woman and child in America.
Of those 560 messages, the average person will notice only 76.
Of those 76, only 12 will be remembered.
And of those 12, 3 will be remembered negatively.
From 560 to 76 to 12 to 9 — an attrition rate of more than 98%!
Sobering isn't it?
But the news gets worse before it gets better.

The clutter trap.
In an effort to counteract the dwindling effectiveness of their messages, more and more companies increase their media frequency.
This leads to clutter.
Advertisers like Wisk and Sanka, once content to run their shrill, tedious commercials several times a week, now may run them several times an hour, trying to bore their way into the consumer's consciousness.
Ironically, while the number of messages (and media costs) have doubled in the past several years, consumers pay less attention than ever before.
In fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that increased frequency may actually be self-defeating.
In 1976, The Harvard Business Review warned,
"Heavy media spending can even work against you... repeated exposure to an advertisement may give rise to what psychologists label 'perceptual defense', to irritation, or even outright rejection."

Raising awareness, Not budgets.
It's clear that if you want to be one of the precious few that are remembered — less than 2% — you've got your work cut out for you. Outspending the competition is increasingly expensive and, as we've seen, may even work against you.
Instead of trying to outspend the competition, why not try to out-think them? With messages so interesting that even the most indifferent consumer will stop and look.
According to researcher Daniel Starch, one advertisement can outperform another advertisement for the same product in the same media at the same time by 500%.
Obviously, the preferred way to improve effectiveness is not to increase the spending level of your advertising, but to increase the interest level of your advertising.

Scarcity of imagination.
Unfortunately, raising the interest level of your advertising is easier said than done. The creative imagination to make great advertising — advertising that builds bridges between products and customers — is rare.
As The Harvard Business Review once observed,
"...creativity is like peace. Everybody wants it, everyone seems to have some ideas about it, but nobody seems able to produce it."
Once every several years, however, an advertising agency with the ability to produce truly exciting, original and compelling advertising appears. Fallon McElligott Rice is such an agency.
Although we've just opened our doors, the campaigns we've created at past agencies are famous. They've won market share for our clients, and a lion's share of awards for us. They've been studied in journalism schools, and copied by our competitors. In every case, these campaigns seemed like they had more money behind them than they did.
The ideas weer big; the budgets small.

What we believe.
At Fallon McElligott Rice we believe in advertising the way Ray Rubicam, Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach once practiced it.
We believe that imagination is one of the last remaining legal means you have to gain an unfair advantage over your competition.
We believe you shouldn't have to repeat yourself ten times to be heard once.
We believe there is no such thing as a "me-too" product, only "me-too" advertising.
And we believe that great advertising is, has been, and always will be created in full partnership with great clients.
If you're beginning to have some questions about whether anybody out there is listening to your advertising, perhaps you should talk to us. Soon.
We have a lot of ideas, a lot of energy, and a lot to prove.


This ad is everything I believe in, it is what drives most of us to fight the horror of adverbatims today. Please consider addressing me to talk about the content of this post in depth. Soon.

5 must read books on advertising - the classics

This article lists The True Advertising Classics. As you might assume the list isn't my bright pick but David Ogilvy's. I added his Confessions to that list as it is still a groundbreaking book on advertising. Even after 40 years. I admit having only read 1 of them so far. But, as the mailman snails his way to our offices, my hunger grows.

Scientific Advertising - by Claude Hopkins (1866-1932)
"Copywriters must acquire detailed knowledge of client products and produce brief, dry, reason-why copy. A good campaign is fueled with couponing, premiums, free samples, mail order and copy test test testing."
- Find it on Amazon

Tested Advertising Methods - by John Caples (1900-1990)
"The average American is, mentally, 13 years old. Therefor every copywriter should use words expected to find in a fifth-grade reader. Next to that I strongly oppose humor."
- Find it on Amazon

Reality in Advertising - by Rosser Reeves
"Practically every product has a number of benefits that might be claimed. Commonly one of the benefits is more popular than the others, even more popular than the others combined. Therefore, it's imperative to do everything to make people understand the most important benefit, to achieve credibility and to avoid distractions. The aim is to have as high a percentage of people as possible take out of an advertisement what the advertiser intends to put into it. This is most likely to be achieved if a claim is articulated and proven with credible evidence—in a brief commercial, some kind of dramatic demonstration."
- Find it on Amazon

The Hidden Persuaders - by Vance Packard
"What Makes Us Buy, Believe — And Even Vote — The Way We Do. An Introduction to the New World of Symbol Manipulation and Motivational Research."
- Find it on Amazon

Confession of an Advertising Man - by David Ogilvy
"If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative."
- Find it on Amazon

Change in advertising

#update: following Famous on Twitter is @FamousBrussels, not @Famous.
Thank you Goedles

Tim and Joeri., originally uploaded by Pieter Baert.

This morning, Famous has released a creative inauguration speech on advertising. The 'creative inauguration' is published on a sub-page of the Famous website. A widget is offered to implement the text onto blogs and other digital media, so it is made portable, nice. But the entire text was published in the form of a ticker which scrolls just too fast to be comfortable for reading. Therefor I posted it here in this post. The text is a very nice example of creative writing. Would you wonder. Tim Driesen is Co-Creative Director @FamousBrussels, an agency renowned for obtaining many creative awards through the years. Though last year they've announced not to participate to creative award-shows anymore. I thought that was a joke at first, but it wasn't.

Former Creative Director Paul Wauters left Belgium to train new Creative Directors for the TBWA Group in Italy. And so Tim and Joeri will take his place as Creative Director team. Tim and Joeri aren't new to the Famous crew. They'd worked there for over 5 years before moving to Mortierbrigade about 2 years ago. So now they're back at the agency that helped them grow to become Belgium star team in advertising. Tim and Joeri got famous when the agency was still called LG&F. They struck numerous creative awards including many Gold Lions.

My guess is that Tim and Joeri will introduce a new young drive of enthusiasm @FamousBrussels and soon will take part at bigger competitions like they did before. I briefly worked with them when I was at Snow by LG&F, they're great, good fellas. To insiders they're also know as 'the usual suspects'.



CHANGE IN ADVERTISING

“My fellow creatives: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust advertisers have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our creative ancestors.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Advertising is at war, against a far-reaching network of scepticism and fear. Our creativity is badly weakened, a consequence of irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare advertising for a new age. Freshness of mind has been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our productions are too costly, our art schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use or don’t use our creativity threaten our agencies.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our industry — a nagging fear that advertising’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation of advertisers must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, fellow creatives — they will be met.

In reaffirming the greatness of our industry, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of the rich and famous. Rather, it has been the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and creativity. These men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked until their heads almost exploded so that we might become better creatives. They saw advertising as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions.

This is the journey we continue today. We serve the most prosperous, powerful brands on Earth. These multinationals may be less productive than when this crisis began. But our minds are no less inventive, our services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our creativity remains undiminished. But our time of standing still, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking the advertising business.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our industry calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new ads, but to lay new foundations for fresh creativity. We will build more and far better websites. We will restore television and print advertising to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise CRM’s quality and lower its cost. And we will transform our art schools and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that advertising today cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this industry has already done; what creative men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the same arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our advertising is too creative or too dull, but whether it works — whether it helps products to be sold and brands to be made heroes. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, campaigns will end. And those of us who manage the advertisers’ budgets will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between advertisers and their agencies.

To the advertiser’s world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those marketing directors who seek to sow conflict, or blame their companies' ills on advertising — know that consumers will judge you on what you can build, not what your agency can sell.

For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

For as much as the advertising industry can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the people in every agency upon which our industry relies. It is the selflessness of workers who would rather work long hours than see their company go down which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the creative team’s courage to start all over again, but also an account handler’s willingness to question the client’s demands, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and creativity, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and research — these things are old. These things are true. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every person working in advertising, that we have duties to ourselves, our industry, and creativity in general, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of working in advertising.

In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our trainees' trainees that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of creativity and delivered it safely to future generations.”

Tim Driesen, Creative Director – Famous.be

Art directors are the best kopiriters

I attended a lecture by Peter Ampe during the Copycursus 2008 (*) and enjoyed it so much I thought I'd share it with you.

Art directors are the best kopiriters

Peter, who currently works as a Creative Director @ DuvalGuillaume, told me that a good writer not needs to write without a spelling mistake. Correctors will sharpen the edges, thus the title of this post. Please note that I've expanded the content of the presentation with my own remarks as they ran along.

Peter Ampe, originally uploaded by Pieter Baert.

It's all about ideas.
Peter began his career in 1995. After studying Germanic Philology Peter started working as a journalist. But at the age of 28 his job dissatisfied him and he started looking for a new challenge. He had found that new challenge in advertising. The advertising business proved to be his new mission. The agency he started his career at was Young&Rubicam. He got enrolled there via the Copycursus. What stunned him was the fact that the people of the agency (Y&R) didn't ask him for a diploma when he applied there. All they wanted to know was: "what are your ideas?". Ever since then the most important thing Peter has learned is: "a good idea isn't quite just enough, it has to be well executed as well."

Why was Peter involved with this Copycursus?
Obviously because to him it kickstarted his career and because as he explains: "nowadays — in Belgium — all (most or more and more) creatives teams — traditionally an art director and a copywriter — are compiled out of two art directors." There simply is no training program for copywirters in Belgium. Because of this the Copycursus arose and formed to be a platform from which new adwriting talents step forward every year.

Who needs a copy of that copy?
So, Belgium lacks a decent education in creative writing for the advertising industry. Knowing this makes it not too hard to draw some conclusions. The most compelling conclusion drawn would be that this deficit makes copywriters the most wanted type of creative, in Belgium that is. Period. Peter pointed out that, even as he works with some of the greatest creative teams, he is often presented a strong visual concept lacking the finishing touch of an explanatory line that makes the idea sell. And as David Sable (this years Direct Lions Jury President) states: "if it doesn't sell, it isn't creative. In a year of turmoil - it's time to honour the truly creative." Which is why the Cannes Jury of this years edition has made some alterations to the judging scheme of the Direct Lions. They have improved judging criteria to place more emphasis on results. They've integrated clearer submission questions to help provide more accurate information for the jury. Added digitally focused categories and amended an Integrated campaign category to ‘Best integrated campaign led by direct marketing’.

It is often perceived that, because of our extensive visual and imagery minded ad-culture, the visual is more important than the accompanied line 'which nobody reads anyway'. Also a lot of art directors look only for a pretty ad hoc 'funny' idea. The idea: 'if it's funny it sells' is something a lot of students worship as omniscience when they enter the industry. And that's 'funny' as in 'it looks funny' (the idea is the visual joke). Of course there is some truth in this point of view. Jokes and funny things tend to work virally (people talk about it with other people) and moreover they stick (the product or brand gets remembered » top of mind) but humor is a very personal thing. You can't expect everybody to find everything funny, moreover it's hard to divide target audiences in groups according to what kind of humor they like. Of course being funny works just fine if it's not too slapstick, and yes copy can be funny as well. Anywway the point is that, more often than not, a strong visual idea needs a supporting line to nest the idea deeply into the minds of the audience. The line often brings along the strategic approach the ad wants to communicate next to being funny and visually standing out. According to Peter the line makes or brakes the campaign!

So why would you want to be a copywriter?
First, copywriters (in Belgium) are the most wanted type of creative at the moment and competition is rather scarce (compared to the competition an art director has, that is). The work of the copywriter makes or brakes the campaign. Next to that, Peter states, copywriters are most likely to become famous and they get to see lovely places as they get to travel along to clients and awardshows around the globe.

A good writer is a good reader. Good readers understand how good books are written. The first line of a book has to grab on you attention in order to get sold. Good copywriters know what line to pen down in order for something to sell. Selling more by adding a simple line of text will make you a superhero worshipped by all the clients you work for.

What does it take to be a good copywriter?
According to Peter, being a good copywriter is a lot about knowing when to stay invisible. Yes it is regarded as, and sometimes is, a complementary services to the visual idea but it can empower the idea as well. Thus the copy is fact no flavor. Not quite. In fact a good line always empowers the idea. And for some briefs the idea comes out of the copywriting. A good example is this. Think about it, you're working on the brief of a car-client. The car-client wants 'just' the best creative ad he has ever seen and the only restriction the brief has is using a packshot of the car with nothing to much sitting or standing next to it. Definitely the job that needs some strong copywriting wouldn't you say so?

The key to being a good copywriter is not explained talking over just one slice of pizza but Peter rounded up some - rather controversial - basics:
• A good copywriter writes like an art director. Well that kinda solves some problems doesn't it? 'Real' copywriters, as Peter poses it, often try too hard being a copywriter. They tend to write every bloody e-mail 'correct'. Every line is checked, double checked and well thought of. The need to always write 'good'makes lots of conversations (copy) too clean, simple, enforced, without feeling and warmth. Art directors do pretty good job writing as spoken just putting down what they feel. "Ok, so then why do we actually need copywriters anyway Peter?" - "Nobody reads bodycopies unless they are really well written, and that is something not all art directors are gifted to accomplish with success."
• Talking to the viewer is key to drawing the attention. You should not talk to everybody but to somebody in specific, namely you. I am talking to you. Using You is the most important word in bodycopy. You wouldn't want anybody to talk to you persuading you to buy his/her product while addressing a crowd would you. Or, let's pose it this way: do you like having a face to face with somebody looking the other way?
• Tell a story! Give people something to remember (humor doesn't always work to stick) The more you know, the more choices you can make, the more chances you have of finding an idea worthwhile. Peter here refers to David Ogilvy's story on Rolls Royce, perhaps the most famous headline in the car business – “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”. This, and lots of other remarks of course, make Ogilvy 'probably the most famous copywriter, eughm sorry, advertising man in the world".
• Don't try to hard to be a copywriter. Make your sentences direct, not passive but appealling. And stick to approximately 16 words, certainly don't go over 26 words.

How to become an adstar in one day?
You can't, I'm sorry. Not even with the greatest of ideas. That's because a good idea has to be well executed AND have your clients' full support. Also, a 'real' relationship is build over time. Work until it works. In other words: "one stupid line of copy is worth spending at least one day of work if the outcome is that it leverages tons of extra revenue".

One to learn by heart:
If you make good work you feel happy. If make lousy work you feel crappy.
— David Abbott

Q&A:
What is your favorite line? Let it be one that you've revised yourself as a creative director.
Good music makes good people.

(*) Copycursus is a workshop/masterclass about copywriting, organised by Sint-Lukas Hogeschool Brussels. This years edition was held at the offices of de Persgroep. This years Copycursus was a series of 3 sessions, a mixture of lectures and interactive workshop given by some of the most upfront leaders of Belgian advertising industry.

@Peter: if you'd end up reading this and find I've twisted some the content too much by adding my own please mark that in the comment section or drop me an e-mail. tnx

The Simpsons mocks (m)Apple

Few have been spared the satire of Matt Groening's long running animated sitcom. Last night, The Simpsons took on Apple, or uh, Mapple for a full 6 minutes of lampoonery -- a pretty harsh ride at a two-joke per minute pace. It all starts when the Springfield mall gets its very own Mapple store, "it's so sterile," gasps Lisa upon entering. Perhaps the best exchange comes from Bart's dubbing of a Steve Mobs' product announcement in front of a crowd of gaping nerds, "You think you're cool because you buy a $500 phone with a picture of a fruit on it. Well guess what? They cost 8 bucks to make and I pee on every one!" A Mapple store employee then angrily responds, "Who dares question the boss we fired 10 years ago and then brought back!" Yuk yuk. Videos after the break for as long as it takes for the copyrighters to wake up.

From Engadget

De naam is Backens, Frank Backens

—
Beste Reclamewereld,

U bent luid en schreeuwerig. U begrijpt geen snars meer van wat ik denk. U verdrinkt in uzelf maar pretendeert nog te kunnen zwemmen. U bent saai en valt in herhaling.

U krijgt zelfs niet langer respect van mij.

En nu?
U heeft mij nodig. U verlangt zelfs al naar mij. U mist de aandacht van een jonge snaak die u nu straal negeert. U mist de blik van die maagdelijk blauwe oogjes die blind geboren werden.

U sterft nu. Je ontwaakt onzacht uit je winterslaap waar je al 10 jaar te lang in rondwentelt. Je vindt het helemaal niet erg dat ik deze e-mail opzettelijk 5 minuten na het verstrijken van de deadline (*) verstuurde. Jij bent een deel van mij, ik deel de lakens uit en ga nu slapen.

Mezelf verkopen hoeft niet meer. Ik zie er verdomd goed uit.

Hoogachtend,
Backens Frank


(*) PS: ervan uitgaande dat onwrikbare deadlines genadeloos vastgepind blijven op de aanvankelijk voorziene datum.

—

Ik ben bereikbaar op 0474 62 66 98 of dit e-mailadres frank.backens@gmail.com

USA Today: copywriting

In the hazard of thousands of commercial and advertising messages using big headlines and short copy, this line of copy stuck to me (view image).

nationwide
walkie-talkie
$1/day

no contracts/no credit checks
Boostmobile.com

I farlanguage good english

If you're not dutch-speking-native you will not snap a thing of what this says that blog but it funny is pretty, click see go that thing at You are self a blog you