Advertising Is Good For You

Kids. Can't return 'em. Might as well feed em.

Most FSIs (free standing inserts in newspapers) suck. Rarely do they look as though they were done by professional creative people. This is a happy exception.

You might be surprised who's clipping coupons

It's a common misconception that low-income consumers comprise the largest group of coupon users.In reality, it's affluent consumers who clip coupons.

According to new research from the Nielsen Company, affluent consumers are the ones who clip coupons, while low-income consumers are least likely to use coupons:  

• More affluent consumers ($70k+) are considered super heavy coupon users (39% compared to 35% for total U.S. households) and coupon enthusiasts (42% compared to 35% for total U.S. households.)
• Other serious coupon users include those from large households; those households with female heads age 54 and younger; as well as consumers living in affluent suburban and comfortable country spreads.
• Those likely to be low or non-coupon users: low income, one-member households; male-only head of households; African-American and Hispanic consumers; residents in rural and struggling urban areas.
  

Most popular cents-off coupons

According to coupons.com, the ten most popular online coupon categories printed in April were:

1. Cereal

2. Baking ingredients

3. Entertainment

4. Nutrition and diet

5. Bathroom tissue

6. Eye care

7. Soap and body wash

8. Feminine hygiene

9. Pizza

10. Juice

 

In case you didn't know, coupons.com is a site from which consumers can print manufacturer coupons for savings on popular name-brand products.

He's no hang-in-there kitten

Let's get something straight. I love animals. But I hate cutesy-wootsy photos of them.

Nevertheless, when I came across this insert tucked into my Sunday morning newspaper, amid a pile of ugly coupon ads and six sections of mostly bad news, this little guy made me laugh out loud.

If I were a small dog owner, I would definitely have felt the urge to use the coupon on the back.

 

Points off for sloppy photoshopping

Look at the tines of the fork. They're not attached to anything. (Click image to enlarge.)

Wrigleys gum coupon ad

There's so much to love about this ad.

It's well-written and nicely designed. The product is certainly the hero. There's no missing the great offer. The concept, with its unity sentiment, is very appropriate -- and I think welcome -- in these uncertain times.

I've already used the coupon.

  If you haven't yet tried this new packaging, check it out the next time you're at the checkout or in a candy aisle. It's very sleek and doesn't fall apart after a few days at the bottom of an overstuffed handbag.

Don't laugh, Bush and Cheney have been working on this for months

Source: The Daily Digresser

67% of U.S.consumers say they're more likely to use coupons during a recession.

The other 33% are finding alternative ways to save.

Source: Media Post's Center for Media Research

"Online coupons of all kinds represent less than 1% of the overall coupon market."

That's according to Peter Meyers, ICOM marketing vice president.

I can tell you -- both as an advertising/
marketing geek and a consumer -- if you shop on the Internet, online coupons are a great reason to put yourself on e-retailers' email lists. It's only April and my e-mailbox is already full of 30% and 40% off coupons from some of my favorite online retailers pushing summer fashions.

The drawback is that your mailbox fills up pretty quickly with sales messages. But so what? Typically, the offers are in the subject line, so you don't have to open the email to know if it's something that interests you. Personally, I find the savings are more than worth the time it takes me to delete the unwanted emails.

Just in case you didn't know (and a lot of people don't), if you hold down the Control button, you can click all the emails you want to delete and then get rid of all of them at once by hitting the Delete button.

Image: Ann Taylor
Source: Media Post's Center for Media Research

I don't care what the ad says, no one "delicately prepares" dog food.

I think ads that make pet food sound like five-star cuisine are silly. So this free-standing insert from Sunday's paper made laugh. Until I turned it over.

FSI front:

FSI back:

The back is so colorful, so graphically interesting, that I don't even mind that it's a rip-off of old Target campaigns.

More FSI Madness

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

There can't be THAT many crazy cat people, can there?

"Entice your cat with new recipes inspired by the tastes of Tuscany."

Pet food advertising is obviously directed at pet owners, not pets. As is pet food copy describing "meaty morsels," "ocean-fresh fish" and "gravy."

But this free-standing insert from Purina, with its "recipes" from Tuscany and "Restaurant Inspired Food for Cats™" tag line, must be targeting a special class of pet owners: cat owning crazies who actually believe their cats will appreciate "white meat chicken Tuscany in a savory sauce with long grain rice and garden greens."

To see advertising for the dog food equivalent, click here.

Industry secret revealed: the value of grocery store coupons goes up with time

Boing Boing has a great post that explains how holding on to grocery store coupons for a month before using them actually saves you more money than using the coupons right away.

Image: Lazy_Lightning

As a result of this campaign, sales were 140% more than projected

These are some of the ways, Onsala, Sweden's best-known sandwich sausage, let its customers know that the sausage was now available ready-sliced.

Advertising agency: Goss, Sweden

Source: Ads of the World