Ads that make you smile

by Steve Fradkin, President
The Wizard of Adz

Ask anyone to name a particularly good advertisement and I’ll bet the answer you get will be a humorous ad.  OK…so carry the experiment a bit further and ask who the ad was for.

“Uh…some beer company…I think…or maybe…uh…”

That’s because most writers of humorous ads forget something.  It’s not enough to make people smile; you’ve got to make them buy.

There are, of course, some exceptions.  The Geico ads, for example.  The Aflac duck.  Building #19’s cartoon circulars.

They work because the humor is built around the core message.  “So easy a caveman could do it” hammers home how easy it is to go to Geico.com.  The duck just repeats the company name — clearly, the company’s objective was to gain awareness.  The Building #19 fliers reinforce the company’s down-and-dirty, no frills image.

But the typical funny ads — the ones that make you chuckle and say “Wasn’t that clever” — are little more than miniature sitcoms with sponsor names at the end.  Perhaps the most famous one was the sock puppet spokesthing for an online retailer.  Quick…who was the advertiser? (answer below)

Some of the ads we do for clients are humorous.  Sometimes, in fact, the humor is designed specifically to appeal to the client’s target market.  But whether we’re doing a funny ad or a serious one, we strive to produce ads that make you smile.  Ads that produce the kind of action that makes you happy.

Don’t spend your advertising dollars entertaining people.  Invest your money in ads that will work.  Ads that are strategically targeted and crafted to leave a convincing message with your prospective customer.  Let us show you what we mean.  For our collection of case histories, call Sharon at The Wizard of Adz (781-821-1818) or email Sharon@WizardOfAdz.com.

Answer:
The sock-puppet ads from Pets.com were truly creative, and kinda funny.  But Pets.com stock tumbled over 98% from a high of $14 to just 25¢ when the company folded.  Can you name the company using the sock puppet these days?

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There’s No Business Out There

By Steve Fradkin, President
The Wizard of Adz

I heard a real estate agent on TV recently, reacting to the announcement that February was the worst month for home sales ever on record.  He said “We’re not selling anything because there’s no business out there.”

I’ve got news for him: yes there is.

People are buying homes — both new and previously owned.  And while they may not be lining up at the door waiting to make an offer above the asking price, buyers and sellers are keeping some real estate agents quite busy.

I’ve long maintained that, for small businesses, the economy is like the tide.  It really doesn’t matter whether the tide is high or low.  For small businesses, there’s always going to be enough water.  At low tide, though, you have to work a little harder to fill your bucket.

What’s in the bucket?

Working a little harder to keep your business rolling means increasing and streamlining your marketing effort.  It means an aggressive and innovative approach to advertising, direct mail, publicity, etc.  Of course, you could always wait for the tide to come in (wait out the recovery), but you might need (or want) the water somewhat sooner.

Your more aggressive and innovative approach means:

·        Doing more advertising, publicity and direct mail (depending on your business, of course) and getting involved with social media like Facebook and LinkedIn.  In many cases, you may not even have to increase your budget in order to get better results.

·        Sharpening your definitions of your target market, product (or service) benefits, and media plan to maximize exposure with your target market, while minimizing the dollars flowing between your coffers and those of the print, online and broadcast media, etc.

·        Re-working (or re-creating) your website so your company comes up first on the Google list.  You can even purchase key words that will automatically trigger your company when requested by Google users.

Grab your bucket and let’s get some water together

Really…now that the economy is recovering, why would anyone want to hide their business from prospective customers?  Get out the word — now, before your competitors do.  Bring in those dormant customers with a comprehensive marketing strategy and execution designed by The Wizard of Adz to do exactly that.  Because regardless of what that real estate agent said, there is business out there.  And it’s waiting for you to call it in.

Call Sharon at 781-821-1818 or email her at Sharon@WizardOfAdz.com.  Let us show you what well-crafted strategies have done for other clients, and — most importantly — what we can do for you.

A Third of a Century Ago

By Steve Fradkin, President
The Wizard of Adz

In November of 1978 — a third of a century ago — we opened the doors of The Wizard of Adz, introducing a new concept in advertising agencies.  Our initial clients were a lecture agency, an international manufacturer of precision electroformed metal products, a concert promoter, a bank marketing consultant, and a candidate for state office.

A lot has changed over those years, but our philosophy of making quality advertising available to small businesses is still the same.

Technologically, we were in the Dark Ages.  Our graphics department consisted of an IBM Composer (a typewriter-style typesetting device), an AM Headliner (which set headlines one letter at a time on 35mm photographic paper) and a stat camera (there were no scanners back then).  We pasted bits of type and Photostats of pictures and logos onto white cardboards (called paste-ups), and sent those to the printer or medium to be photographed and made into plates for printing.

Our phones were the dial-type.  There were no desktop computers, scanners or inkjet printers.  We did have an IBM Memory Typewriter, which we used for a somewhat primitive form of word processing.  Our first fax machine was a Qwip telecopier (made by Exxon), which took six minutes to scan a page wrapped around a spinning cylinder, convert the images into audible beeps and squeaks, send those sounds out via phone (in an acoustic coupler) to another Qwip, which reversed the process, thermally etching the image on a special paper.

Needless to say, we’ve done a lot of changing.  And learning.  We progressed first to computerized photo-typesetting, then to digital photo-typesetting (a system that cost us $30,000 back in the 1980s).  Desktop publishing didn’t come along until 1984 (we waited several years more for the quality to improve to commercial standards).  Where UPS and taxicab delivery services had been daily visitors, the Internet and e-mail revolutionized delivery of proofs and printing materials.

But the years have done more than impact our office equipment.  Markets and marketing methods have changed significantly as well.  And we’ve kept pace.  To our repertoire of print, broadcast and direct mail ads, public relations and marketing consultation services, brochures, logos, stationery, billboards and bumper strips, we’ve added websites, on-line banner ads, e-mail blast campaigns, voice mail messaging, social network advice and more.

What we started in 1978 was revolutionary for the times.  While most small businesses either couldn’t afford to retain a full-service ad agency or, if they did hire one, didn’t get the attention and level of service afforded the larger clients, we set out to change the rules and make quality business communication available to smaller firms.

·        We eliminated contracts (most agencies required them).

·        We quoted prices up front, on a project basis (most agencies billed by the hour, open-ended).

·        We set no minimum account size (most agencies had minimums of 6 or 7 figures per year).

·        We required no exclusivity (if you wanted to work with other vendors, or place your own ads, we had no issue with that).

·        We provided advertising management services as well as creative and production, to help owner-managers strategize their ad campaigns (most agencies are used to dealing with corporate advertising or brand managers).

We haven’t changed those policies one bit.  And we’ve helped literally hundreds of small businesses set sales records, double and triple in size, quickly sell out of product, and helped candidates get elected to offices from Library Trustee on up to State Treasurer and Auditor.  To see some of our case histories, check out our new website WizardOfAdz.com and click on Strategic Case Histories or Political Advertising.

And to learn more about how we can put a third of a century of experience and progress to work for your company, call Sharon at 781-821-1818 or email her at Sharon@WizardOfAdz.com.