Recently, to my astonishment, three new planets shot into orbit. They belong to three well known marketing experts. They were already famous for their talents. But now these brilliant thinkers have transmogrified – and become Planets. Planet Kennedy, Planet Levis and Planet Marshall. Who …
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Which marketer are you? Amateur or professional? How can you tell?
Yesterday a marketing director told me this revealing story… “Did I ever tell you about my talk to the marketing team at LexisNexis, in about 2013? I was nervous because the person who invited me was fired just before I …
Read MoreSomething to make you think – if you have time to ask important questions – from Mr. Harrison
“How Advertising Can Find Its Purpose” is the title. Well worth a read if you ever wonder whether what you do is worth it. David Ogilvy’s mentor Raymond Rubicam stated flatly that “the only purpose of advertising is to sell. …
Read MoreJargon lunacy in Wales – paid for by us taxpayers, of course
If these people just promised benefits in plain English, they might do a little better. But they think fancy marketing drivel impresses. I was brought up in what they now call the “hospitality business” only in those days it was …
Read MoreGood and bad: Lessons you can learn from two ads
Brilliant poster; stupid slogan; and an ad that throws away a good story I apologise for my usual tatty reproduction of these deathless works of art. Actually, I don’t. Your customers do not see them in a pristine condition the …
Read MoreTwo of the worst advertisements I saw this week
Which is worse? The wildly inappropriate or the totally incomprehensible? One of these ads is bad. The other is abysmal. If you wish your ads to work they must fit the context and the subject. The ad for SIPPs is bad …
Read MoreAdvertising schizophrenia at Fiat
How can one firm run an ad as good as this – but another so bad it made me groan? Do you ever look at an ad and mutter to yourself, “Wanker”? I do. It’s a sad condition, I know. …
Read MoreBullshit bingo: how to make absolutely,100% sure nobody knows why they should hire you
Obscurity, jargon and polysyllabic waffle do not impress. They just irritate, confuse and mystify As you may know somebody discovered a while ago that the thing people find most irritating in business is jargon. Some sufferers, they say, play Bullshit …
Read MoreWTF? What d’you suppose they were smoking when they came up with this lulu?
This Acer ad manages to tick all the boxes. Unreadable. Irrelevant. Incompetent. And frankly just a teeny bit bananas Imagine you’re given the task of launching a new product. The market is bitterly competitive. Computers. Dog eat dog. Squillions of …
Read MoreA tale of two posters
One a lost opportunity; the other perfect for purpose Stephen Leacock called advertising the science of arresting human intelligence just long enough to get money from it. Most people who write or design posters seem unaware how fleeting that time …
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