Comments on: Why “corporate” ads waste money http://www.directcreative.com/blog/corporate-ads Dean Rieck on Copywriting & Direct Marketing Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:56:46 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Why Corporate Ads Waste Money | Poke the Beehive http://www.directcreative.com/blog/corporate-ads/comment-page-1#comment-33215 Why Corporate Ads Waste Money | Poke the Beehive Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:32:17 +0000 http://www.directcreative.com/blog/?p=736#comment-33215 [...] have said it better myself. Check out this post at Direct Creative Blog on why nicely designed say-nothing corporate advertising is a big waste of [...] [...] have said it better myself. Check out this post at Direct Creative Blog on why nicely designed say-nothing corporate advertising is a big waste of [...]

]]> By: Dawson R http://www.directcreative.com/blog/corporate-ads/comment-page-1#comment-29962 Dawson R Thu, 07 May 2009 05:51:53 +0000 http://www.directcreative.com/blog/?p=736#comment-29962 I remember that show. That statement is very true. Speaking from experience, most "creatives" don't really care if websites are easy to use, or easy to understand for users. They just want to win awards. What wins awards? Flashy eye-candy work wins awards. What was this ad's objective? Who cares it looks pretty. Lets convince the naive client they need more ads, so we can get more money from them! I remember that show. That statement is very true. Speaking from experience, most “creatives” don’t really care if websites are easy to use, or easy to understand for users. They just want to win awards.

What wins awards? Flashy eye-candy work wins awards. What was this ad’s objective? Who cares it looks pretty. Lets convince the naive client they need more ads, so we can get more money from them!

]]> By: Dean Rieck http://www.directcreative.com/blog/corporate-ads/comment-page-1#comment-29278 Dean Rieck Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:37:45 +0000 http://www.directcreative.com/blog/?p=736#comment-29278 Ted: Well, I didn't say it in the article, but accountability is exactly what a lot of agencies want to avoid. Once you get into that, you have to deliver. You can't rely on sales execs to blow smoke and keep the client happy for a couple or three years while the agency gets rich on billing. There was TV show called Thirtysomething back in the late 80s. Two of the lead characters worked at an ad agency. In one episode, the agency owner explained the purpose of an ad agency something like this: "We create ads to win awards. We win awards to get new clients. We get new clients to create more ads to win more awards." Ted:
Well, I didn’t say it in the article, but accountability is exactly what a lot of agencies want to avoid. Once you get into that, you have to deliver. You can’t rely on sales execs to blow smoke and keep the client happy for a couple or three years while the agency gets rich on billing.

There was TV show called Thirtysomething back in the late 80s. Two of the lead characters worked at an ad agency. In one episode, the agency owner explained the purpose of an ad agency something like this: “We create ads to win awards. We win awards to get new clients. We get new clients to create more ads to win more awards.”

]]> By: Ted Grigg http://www.directcreative.com/blog/corporate-ads/comment-page-1#comment-29271 Ted Grigg Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:49:08 +0000 http://www.directcreative.com/blog/?p=736#comment-29271 Nothing we say will ever dissuade some of the creative teams or advertisers who just don't understand that advertising exists for one reason -- selling products and services. Positioning and awareness advertising are simply strategies that drive demand. They are not the objectives. Sometimes, these strategies must take a back seat to creating sales more quickly -- like within this decade. But unfortunately, many advertisers and their suppliers forget that selling and delivering the product do not take away from awareness or positioning. In fact, the advertising becomes accountable and must now yield good ROIs the CEOs keep asking for (in vain it seems). In fact, in this Internet age, successful companies know how to do all of these things at the same time. Today’s extreme market segmentation does not support nebulous messages or meaningless chatter. Actually, it never did. But now the pressure is on to deliver sales as the competition for attention escalates. So your post is right on. Nothing we say will ever dissuade some of the creative teams or advertisers who just don’t understand that advertising exists for one reason — selling products and services.

Positioning and awareness advertising are simply strategies that drive demand. They are not the objectives. Sometimes, these strategies must take a back seat to creating sales more quickly — like within this decade.

But unfortunately, many advertisers and their suppliers forget that selling and delivering the product do not take away from awareness or positioning. In fact, the advertising becomes accountable and must now yield good ROIs the CEOs keep asking for (in vain it seems).

In fact, in this Internet age, successful companies know how to do all of these things at the same time.

Today’s extreme market segmentation does not support nebulous messages or meaningless chatter. Actually, it never did. But now the pressure is on to deliver sales as the competition for attention escalates.

So your post is right on.

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