Advertising Is Good For You

Not content to spend his life selling cheap T-shirts and tube socks by the side of the road, Bob is exploring the advantages of serving a niche market.

A business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers.

                                               -- Wikipedia

Image source: Yeah Oops

Every Day is April Fools in the World of Food Photography

Years ago, a canned soup company got in trouble because its advertising implied there were more vegetables in its vegetable soup than there really were. Specifically, the photo in its ad was considered deceptive. Turns out, the canned soup folks had put clear marbles into the bowl before filling it with soup; the vegetables sat on top of the marbles, peaking out of the liquid, giving the impression of soup brimming with vegetables.

Most food styling tricks are not meant to deceive but to simply make food appear appetizing. Most consumers know this and are okay with cake mix ads showing perfectly frosted cakes with nary a stray crumb -- like these gorgeous examples from Betty Crocker.

 

Food stylists are professionals whose job it is to make food look gorgeous despite hot studio lighting and photo shoots that often last all day. And their bag of tricks is fascinating.

For example, they use white glue instead of milk when photographing bowls of cereal. For one thing, the glue won't curdle. For another, it won't soak into the cereal. And it's easier to control -- no small thing to a food stylist who's spent Lord knows how much time sifting through boxes of corn flakes and picking out the most attractive flakes.

Photocritic has posted a great list of food styling tools (motor oil, spray deodorant, shoe polish, etc.) and their uses. It's a fun read.  To see the article, CLICK HERE.

 

More FSI Madness

FYI, FSI is short for free-standing insert -- which is itself a fancy term for newspaper insert.

In advertising, this selling technique is referred to as 'borrowed interest'

Source: Small Bits & Pieces

One of the worst problems advertising creative teams run into are clients who think white space is wasted space.

White space refers to the blank area of a printed advertising/marketing communication. It doesn't have to be white literally, it just has to be devoid of type and graphics.

White space creates balance between all the elements of a communication. It makes the whole thing visually appealing and inviting. It looks professional. Most important, it engages readers, makes them more willing to spend some time looking at and reading your communication.

Filling up the white space by making text or logos bigger does not make those elements more important or more persuasive. It just makes them bigger.

White space is good. You need white space. Embrace the white space. It is your friend.

This is an ad for an investment firm that I worked on with designer Jennifer Ross. It's a great example of how white space helps draw in a reader in ways a wall of type never could.

 

Attention vampires, elements in advertising creative that suck consumers' attention away from the brand.

Source: Advertising Age

Image: Vampires Then and Now

 

Proof that techies are indeed nerds

Perhaps the most snooze-inducing word in all of marketing is whitepaper. Yet, MediaPost's Center for Media Research reports that 71% of technology buyers say whitepapers are the most frequently read form of content.

Whitepaper (also white paper) refers to an informational document, written in essay style, that provides an in-depth discussion of a subject; whitepapers are often used in direct marketing as an offer or inducement to action.

Photo source: Archie McPhee  

Boomers are hipper than you think.

So-called ThirdAgers use the Internet at home more than any other age group.

In fact:

• 72% of ThirdAgers access the Internet from home via broadband
• 92% seek out information on the Internet
• 95% use the Internet to stay in touch with friends and family
• 73% shop online

Read more stats at at MediaPost's Center for Media Research

ThirdAgers are the population segment that includes baby boomers and mid-lifers; in other words, people aged forty-something to sixty-something.

The market for penis enlargers may be on the wane.

There's been a sharp decline in adult spam in the past few months. That's according to Symantec's monthly report for February 2007.

Adult spam is defined as:

Adult email attacks containing or referring to products or services intended for persons above the age of 18, often offensive or inappropriate.  Examples: porn, personal ads, relationship advice.

Brand slut: the fickle fashion and beauty consumer who flits from one brand to another.

  Predicted to be one of the seven phrases that will shape our lives in 2007 according to the woman who coined the phrase, Marian Salzman, co-author of Next Now: Trends for the Future and EVP/Chief Marketing Officer for JWT Worldwide.

Ms. Salzman also predicts "long, monogomous relationships" with brands are disappearing as consumers increasingly feel no sense of fidelity to brands.

Source: Hartford Courant

Flog, a fake blog or one that purports to be organic but is in fact sponsored by a company.

For example, Working Families for Wal-Mart turned out to be a flog when it was disclosed that Wal-Mart had paid PR agency Edelman to create and maintain a pro-Wal-Mart blog under the guise that it was formed by a grassroots movement. Such a practice, while not illegal, is considered unethical; because of its role in the Wal-Mart blog deception, Edelman is currently on a 90-day probation with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Source: MediaPost