Independent Thinking » advertising

Why I Love Billboards

Daria Steigman — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:05:08 +0000

I love billboards, and not just because dozens of South of the Border ads have given me and millions of other drivers cheesy entertainment while driving up and down I-95.

Billboards work.

In an era when we’re constantly on the edge of sensory overload, very little unwanted information seeps through. I tune out extraneous stuff on Web pages, rip ads out of magazines, mute TV ads, fast-forward through commercials while streaming video-on-demand, and pay for ad-free premium Spotify.

But I see billboards. Clean Bathrooms Next Exit. Best Morning Drive Station. Outlet Stores 20 Miles. Free Wifi, Heated Pool, Kids under 12 Stay Free.

And Slavery Still Exists.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month launched a human trafficking awareness campaign. I hadn’t seen or heard anything about it–and it’s a topic that I pay attention to. Then I rode by a “Slavery Still Exists” billboard at a busy intersection in Atlanta.

Billboards aren’t right for every business or every ad campaign. But sometimes old-fashioned, low-tech, can be a very effective way to grab people’s attention.

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

Toyota’s Tone-Deaf Print Ad

Daria Steigman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:26:01 +0000

Oh really? Glad to know I want brake problems.

This turned up in my mail on Saturday. Inside was a shiny brochure about their hybrid vehicles. Don’t you think Toyota should have put off this print campaign until after they fixed their cars?

Windows 7 and Me

Daria Steigman — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:48:40 +0000

Have you see the Windows 7 Was My Idea ads?

The concept is great because it strengthens the “I’m a PC” tag that did a good job at humanizing the Microsoft brand. Plus any ad that has people envisioning themselves as hunks makes me smile.

But there’s another reason they work: because Windows 7 is user-friendly. It’s the first version of the operating system that seamlessly transfers all your files–and keeps your settings and accounts intact. I know, because I went through setting up my new computer just weeks ago. And best of all: Windows 7 recognizes existing local networks, so that all I needed to do was put in my password (at the prompt) during the initial set-up phase and I was online with no business interruption.

Now I’m a PC, and that was my idea.

Men Are Not from Venus

Daria Steigman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:39:39 +0000

This isn’t going to be a post about dating, relationships, or Valentine’s Day. But when was the last time you heard a guy say he was looking forward to “getting to the communication”?

That’s a key line from an advertisement by online dating service eHarmony that has been running on ESPN News. Apparently eHarmony just held a “free communication weekend,” presumably in honor of Valentine’s Day.

The ad caught my attention because it seemed so out of place on a sports network. (That and the guy uttering a phrase that no real person would actually use.) So here’s the bigger question: who is the target audience? If I’m watching a sporting event, I’m not likely to turn it off and log on to fill out a “29 dimensions of compatibility” questionnaire.

Why do you think eHarmony is advertising on ESPN? Smart move or waste of money?

Egregious Advertising: Acme Did What?

Daria Steigman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:07:40 +0000

Sometimes an ad is just an ad, and sometimes you screw up in ways that will resonate for a long time. My mother still talks about one particularly awful promotion: a local department store which, at the height of the 1968 riots, ran ads to alert customers that while their downtown stores had to close, their suburban stores would remain open for business. Every other department store in the region closed down in honor of Martin Luther King.

Even though the company changed ownership, my mother didn’t set foot in their stores for over 35 years.

Now comes Acme Markets, which just ran a promotion under a Black History Month banner that includes discounts on corn bread, collard greens, and grape soda. What were they thinking?

Well, at least this should lay to rest all discussion about whether we still need Black History Month.

What ads have cost companies your business? If a company later regained your support, how did they do it?

Susan Lucci, Susan Faludi, and SEO

Daria Steigman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:43:13 +0000

What do a feminist author and a soap opera star have in common?

You can do a lot of free association when you’re on cold meds. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about something related to advertising. That got me thinking about a book I once read for a class by a feminist author who premised, in part, that women’s choices were unduly influenced by Hollywood and Madison Avenue. So women who “nested” were doing so because they watched 30 Something, and if we wore sexy lingerie it was because we’d seen a Christian Lacroix or Calvin Klein ad. Yeah, right. I eventually threw the book across the room and never got to the end.

Apropos of that conversation the other day, I wondered: whatever happened to Susan Faludi? So I did a Google search. But I spelled her name wrong and Google asked: Do you mean Susan Lucci? I still got that when I added in the book title. Eventually I went to Amazon, plugged in the book title, and figured it out.

I know very little about search engine optimization, which is why I try to learn from Lee Odden, Matt McGee, and other SEO pros. But I know that if your name can be mistaken for any variation of a soap opera star, you’ve got work to do on your online rankings. (Meanwhile, the irony that a feminist who posited a backlash against women was mistaken for a soap opera star wasn’t lost on me.)

How’s your online ranking? Have you ever been mistaken online for someone else? If so, what did you do to correct your online profile?