Posts by Bruce
Hatch Show Print - Power from simplicity
“The Hatch poster, though, kicks with a louder boot,”
says Jim Sherraden, manager at Nashville’s Hatch Show Print. And he’s right. Just look at them - in all their bold, chunky beauty.
So what gives them the extra kick? Truth. Simple and unadulterated. The limits of the letterpress force clarity - in both message and hierarchy of presentation.
“Everything’s done by hand. Hand crank. Hand ink. Hand trim. Hand wrap. And we call the customer from a rotary telephone.”
Modern technology makes cramming in more - copy, images, logos, names, dates [More...]
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See the forest
Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy, recently told investors, “We are building on our foundation as a company that sells hardware and accessories to one that understands that means we can connect people to the people, content and networks they care about.”
Another way to read Mr. Dunn’s statement is We are selling hardware and accessories but our customers are buying connections. That (seemingly) simple realization will radically change the way Best Buy treats people.
Every business needs a leader like Dunn - who is capable and not afraid of expressing the “squishy” side of their business. [More...]
How your FAQ page can further your conversation.
What is your FAQ page saying about you?
When I see FAQ pages, I read them - or at least scan them. Not only can they be the easiest way to find information, they can also be an interesting look into what web site owners believe about their site and what they offer, and what they think their visitors care about. The standard approach is the easy one - factual answers written in a plain vanilla style. But that wastes an opportunity to engage with readers as human beings rather than as robots.
The standard Q&A format is perfect for having a [More...]
Oops? Tide Coldwater lifts new campaign line directly from early 90s MGD campaign
Best case scenario is that every person who worked on the new Tide Coldwater campaign is too young to remember the early ’90s. Worst case is that someone did remember and decided ripping off another agency’s creative product was OK.
Granted, no one can remember every ad campaign ever created and some repetition or close variations of campaign themes is inevitable. But when the campaign line in question, Get Out Of The Old. Get Into The Cold (for Miller Genuine Draft) had national TV exposure for at least two years (that I recall) - at a time when national TV still [More...]
Malt-O-Meal sets a high bar for social media and social responsibility
It’s pretty clear that social media is becoming an accepted method for raising money and support for cause-related organizations. Sara Lee is doing it today with their National Sandwich Day promotion that uses Facebook and Twitter to raise money for Share Our Strength.
Target did it for their Do Something 101 promotion that used Facebook to support an effort by dosomething.org to collect donations of school supplies.
Then yesterday [More...]
Going negative can be positive but results may vary
Back in the early 70s I was fascinated by the book Subliminal Seduction which made a big splash by purporting to expose the nefarious techniques that the advertising industry was using to get us to buy, buy, buy. Everything from airbrushing (how quaint) silhouettes of naked women onto ice cubes (maybe that’s where my teenage fascination came from) to imprinting the word “S-E-X-” in Ritz Crackers. Of course these claims have been roundly denied and James Vicary’s infamous “Drink Coca-Cola” movie theater study has been soundly debunked.
Now comes a study from [More...]
