Where Content is King

London is known for many things: The home of greasy fish and chips, Harrods, the Union Jack, great music, great writers, fog, and as a popular vacation destination for weary American marketers. I had the pleasure of spending a week or so across the Pond in the old stomping ground of the Tudors. While I did not lose my head, I did lose my heart to London. San Francisco is great, but my heart is back in London riding the Tube. No, I’m not that big of a fan of public transportation, though those Brits do it right. It’s just that content is still king there, and the poster ads on the Tube (and in other places) proved that. Every time I stepped out of Waterloo Station I felt like Don Draper, fresh out of a Lucky Strikes meeting with my Mad Men creative team. Rather than tell you about it, the following is a photo journey of some of my favorites ads in London. It was a bit hard taking photos on the Tube, but if you click on the images, it should take you to a larger view.

Here’s an effective ad for The London Times. They use the melting of polar ice pages as an introduction to the their Sunday Science section. Climate Change and other world issues come into play in a number of the ads I saw. This one was one of the most compelling. It uses a great shot and some concise copy to make its point. It ends with “Be a part of the times.” Note the punctuation, creating a play on words.

Be a part of the times

This one is another favorite. In fact, it’s the first photo of an advertisement that I snapped in London, and it wasn’t till that moment that I realized I would even want to blog about ads I saw. I love this one because it is a head-turner and has a line you won’t forget. My mind was duly opened and inspired.

The Opening of Your Mind

This next ad is all words. In fact, it’s flash fiction at its finest. The copywriter has taken on us a little journey that leads us through a fine department store, then right back to our computer where we will order the same wonderful product for much less.

Dixons

I tried several times to get a good shot, but on a moving train with riders walking past my view it was tricky, so if you cannot read the copy in red, it reads: “then head over to Dixons.uk.co to order it for much less.” If Shakespeare were alive today, he might have been a vital member of the ad team at Dixons.

The next ad reminds us that you can’t please everyone. Just ask the poor advertising agency for the London Transit System. They came close, though, and this ad proves the success of the poster ads in the London Tube.

9 Out of 10

Thanks, London, for the sights, and for the great ride.

Unplugged, Offline, Disconnected . . . and Loving It?

Audacious Ink is taking a short break while I try an experiment I’ve been meaning to do for some time now: I am going to unplug from the Internet for a couple of weeks. That’s right. You heard me correctly. No Twitter, no Facebook, no You Tube or My Space. Listen to this: I won’t even read email. Well, not much at least.

I am a firm believer that every now and then we just need to disconnect. I don’t do it often, but when I find myself stressed out and looking for my “happy place,” I think of a time when I was in Antigua, floating on a raft in the low waves, with the warm sun beating down on my back and the clear blue sea underneath me. I didn’t know what was going on at the office, I didn’t know if the world was still running across the ocean or what the stock market looked like or how much money was in my checking account or anything. All I knew was that as soon as I could get the beach-side waiter’s attention, I was going to order another Pina Colada. And I did. It was good. That, folks, is my happy place, and it does not involve a computer.

So for the next ten or twelve days, I am going to read books, you know, the kind printed on paper. I am going to start a conversation face-to-face with a stranger. I’m going to people-watch in a cafe. I’m going to snap some photos and contemplate printing them instead of uploading them. I’m not going to check Facebook to see the moment-by-moment happenings of some of my friends (I don’t need to know when someone just got out of the shower or that they are about to go to the dry-cleaners), and I’m definitely not touching Twitter where if I hear the phrase “affiliate marketing” one more time I’m going to commit the Twitter version of murder and “Unfollow” some twits. I’m not going to have CNN on in the background, running constantly, talking about divisive masses who can’t agree on squat.

Here’s something we can all agree on, though: we have information overload. The average American sees over 3,000 advertising messages a day, thanks to TV, radio, print, online, and especially now social media. I would like to trim that number by half for just a couple of weeks. In the process of doing so, I’m going to notice what kind of thoughts and ideas seep into my mind. I’m going to jot them down, via pen and paper. I’m going to experience life like it’s 1984, and not the future 1984, but pre-1984, the 1984 where we complained about Nancy Reagan’s bitchiness, and “Born in the USA” topped the charts.

So until I return around mid-October for more blogging and musings on marketing and the written word, I wish you well. I wish you rest, relaxation, great thoughts, original ideas, and a marvelous lack of streaming data bombarding your senses. Oh, but do watch Mad Men. I mean, you can only take this disconnecting from the world thing so far, you know?

The Future of Rock and Roll Turns Sixty

In 1975, I saw the future of rock and roll and its name was Bruce Springsteen. Darn. I wish I had come up with that line originally, but Jon Landau did. I did see the future in 1975, though: my own, if I didn’t start making plans. I loved Springsteen’s music, but didn’t want to end up like a character from “Meeting Across the River,” or “Jungleland.”

I heard Born To Run and my imagination went wild. Here was this artist painting a New Jersey landscape so vivid and real that a small town girl in Mississippi who had never been to the East Coast could appreciate it. When Bruce wrote, “It’s a town full of losers, and I’m pulling out of here to win,” I revved up my car and drove across the state line. I had to come back though. I was only sixteen. I was just warming up for when I was all grown. After college, I revved up the car again, and left for real, listening to “Thunder Road” as I pulled out of town.

Through the years, he has written songs that have been food for my soul and fuel for my imagination. He has also provided many hours of pure joy, as that is what seeing his concerts provides: pure joy. No wine is needed, certainly nothing stronger. I literally feel euphoric after a Springsteen show—for days.

A lot of people have bashed Bruce the last few years, saying he is old and should just retire. I wish those people would retire their mouths. Seriously. I would feel sorry for them if they just didn’t make me so darn angry. Not liking Springsteen is the same as rooting against your hometown team, or hoping your puppy gets fleas. To all his naysayers, I just have one question: when you turn sixty, will you be creating anything new, or still exciting people when you perform your job? Though we don’t see eye-to-eye, I do hope you will find yourself at sixty full of creativity and energy, and performing your own work better than ever, which is what he is guilty of: getting even better, and beating his own benchmark.

Bruce Springsteen’s music has always been the story of a journey, but now that the man is turning sixty, I think what’s noteworthy is not just the music, but that he still does what he does with such enthusiasm and passion, and he’s still looking, as Wallace Stevens would say “for that act that will suffice.” We all grow old: some of us just do it better, with more vigor—and with a good song.

For nearly thirty-five years, I’ve been a fan of Bruce Springsteen’s music and performances. So much so that when I wrote a novel a few moons back, I managed to squeeze a nod to Bruce into the book. The protagonist is a big Bruce fan, and this is how his music affected her:

“I would lie on my bed with my headphones strapped around my head and listen to Born To run or Darkness on the Edge of Town. I’d think about how the whole world existed in motion around the earth, and so on. And out on a lonely highway, just like in Bruce’s song “The Promised Land,” some guy in a car was driving that “dusty road from Monroe to Angeline” and points beyond. It didn’t matter the destination; it was the getting away, the getting on, the going that counted.”

All these decades after Bruce released “The Promised Land” he’s still driving down that road, at least metaphorically. It’s not so dusty anymore. In fact, at age sixty, it’s looking pretty darn new.

Thanks for the ride, Boss. Let’s keep going.

A How-To Paradise

I’ve blogged numerous time about how much I love Mashable. It’s at the top of my things-I-can’t-live-without list, along with my Channel powder compact, an overplayed Born to Run, my ancient iBook laptop and my worn copy of The Chicago Manual of Style. One of my favorite sections on Mashable is the How-To section. Wanna know how to write a novel online? Check it out. Wanna know how to create a wining Facebook Fan Page? Check it out. Wanna know how to plan a wedding online? Check it out. Wanna reverse the national deficit? Hmmm. Can’t help you there.

From Small Things Big Things Come

There’s big news coming out of the International Cannes Advertising Festival. An underdog (a small island off the Great Barrier Reef) took home a Grand Prix in three categories: direct, cyber & PR. Fast Company has a great article on it, complete with all the must-see links. As the article states, what makes the win so impressive is not the marketing campaign itself, but how they used social media to get the word out. There are six lessons to be learned, which Fast Company goes into great detail, but here they are bulleted for those who prefer the abbreviated version:

1) Make your campaigns believable. Too perfect can sometimes sadly translate into too fake.

2) It’s not about how much you spend. From my own experience, I’ve learned that you have to go for the biggest bang for the buck. PR and social media are often the way to do that. Bill Gates once said that if he had money to spend on only one thing in marketing, it would be PR. I bet he’d revise that now to include social media.

3) Focus on content, not traffic. Quality does matter, and if it’s really good and the stars are in place, the traffic will come.

4) Create inherent reason for people to share. Give them something they want to talk about with their friends.

5) Don’t underestimate the power of content creators. Some people just draw traffic. Tap into their drawing power if possible.

6) Give your promotion a shelf life. As my southern grandmother always said, A lady always knows when it’s time to leave.

Quick Thoughts For the Job Seeker

In honor of Labor Day, and because our country is facing record unemployment, I thought it would be appropriate to devote a blog to the Job Seeker. Ask any recruiter, the moment you put yourself on the job market, no matter what you do, whether you are an accountant, an engineer, an IT professional or even a dog walker, you are now a marketer. Welcome to my world. There are a few things you should do when you are out there in the market, first off is consider what you are actually doing: you are not just looking for a job, you are asking hiring managers to let you share their space for eight to ten or more hours a day, asking to become a major part of their lives as this manager will probably spend more time with you than she does with her own loved ones. Which brings me to . . . .

Know your audience: That’s the first item on the checklist, put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes. You are a marketer now, and a marketer’s number one rule is to know their audience. What can you offer them that answers their question: what’s in it for me? Yes, you have to talk about yourself, but frame the content around the question the hiring manager is silently asking. They want to know, “if I hire you what are you going to do for me? How will you make my life easier? Or are you going to be some pain in the rear who can’t do anything?”

Sorry to be blunt, but face it, that is what this all boils down to in the job market. Can you not only do the job, but can you excel, and by excelling you make your manager look better and therefore, make his or day a tad smoother? These are busy people who need solutions. Be a part of that solution.

Forget Elevator Pitches, give them a headline: Think of your skills, your expertise. Now, try to turn that into a concise one-line sentence that sells the benefits the interviewer seeks from you. An account executive or salesman might say, “I brought in over $XXX in revenue in one year alone.” How have you increased revenues, implemented policies, streamlined processes? State is with strong action verbs, but don’t elaborate too long, which brings me to the next point:

Be a communicator, not a bore: I’ve said it many times, if you talk too long on one topic, you are probably boring people, unless they paid to come hear you give a speech. Give them a chance to ask questions or even ask them questions. Don’t have an interview. Have a conversation—unless the interviewer clearly does not want to talk. That goes back to point #1.

Marketers are generally People Persons. They are also generally Big Talkers. They love to chat, and by chatting, that means have a two-way conversation. So ask intelligent questions of your interviewer. Do some research on the company and the job. A little Google research will turn up dozens of lists of interview questions the job seeker can ask the interviewer. Remember to slant your questions in a way that will let you eventually answer their hidden question of “what’s in it for me?”

If finding a job is about marketing yourself, then just remember the fundamental tenet of marketing: you are filling a need. Show how you can do that, and hopefully, you will have a jump start over your competitors.

From “thirtysomething” to Now

Last week, I attended a premier for the new “thirtysomething” Season One DVD. Guests were treated to the pilot episode of the show, and a Q&A with the producers, as well as two of the stars, Peter Horton and Timothy Busfield. If you watched the show, then you’ll remember that Busfield’s character was a partner in an ad agency with Michael Steadman (Ken Olin). Seeing the episode took me back to my early days as a twentysomething with dreams of landing a job as a copywriter at a San Francisco ad agency.

Those days have been on my mind ever since the premier as it got me thinking how much advertising, as well as the entire world of marketing, has changed. We didn’t have social media in 1987 when the pilot first aired, much less the World Wide Web. Think about it: Web 1.0 hadn’t even been invented.

I’ve been waiting for the release of this DVD for some time, not only because I was a fan of the show and was drawn in by the ad agency angle of two of the lead characters, but because I had a chance to see the special features sections of the new DVD release being produced first hand. My significant other, Greg Carson, was the Producer, so I vicariously became part of the production process, through him. One day when he was short-handed, I quickly volunteered to help out as an intern on the set. I got to meet a couple of the stars, and a writer, and was impressed with how smart everyone was. They all seemed imbued with charm and witty banter, just like their characters.

I went home that night thinking how much natural talent and real skill are both needed to make something great, anything great, whether it’s an ad concept, a TV show, heck, even a casserole. Okay, maybe not so much natural talent and skill are needed for a casserole, but it helps lift the ordinary (cheese and potatoes baked together) to the sublime—yukon gold potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms baked with smoked gouda make an entirely different dish.

As the DVD was nearing its release date, it was fascinating to see the marketing of it in action. Shout Factory, the distributers, has an ace publicity team that scored great media placement. Aside from the event I attended, there was a spread in the LA Times, close to the same in the NY Times, and a cast reunion on “Good Morning America” coming up this Tuesday, and that’s just to name a few of the big ones. They didn’t have to ask for a plug from Audacious Ink. I am inspired to do so because of what they show meant to me as a hopeful young copywriter.

What struck me about the show back then was the every day struggles that the ad guys went through, at the office and at home, but I’ll be honest: it was mainly the office scenes. Some of my pals bit their nails wondering what would happen to Nancy (Patricia Wettig) and Elliot’s marriage. I, on the other hand, shuddered whenever Michael and Elliot encountered the hopeless feeling of being blocked creatively, or the thrill of hitting a new concept out of the park, right down to the crazed boss they eventually had to deal with once they sold their agency.

During the panel discussion, it came up that Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, the creators/producers, had never even stepped into an ad agency when they first created the show. For guys who didn’t know what they were talking about, they fooled a youngster like me. I didn’t know ad agencies from medical school. I liked to believe, though, that when I would one day snare a job at one of San Francisco’s hottest agencies, I’d be working with good, earnest guys like Michael and Elliot who just wanted to create great material. They’d wear suspenders, and I’d be their female equivalent in shoulder pads. We’d create great ads featuring other people in suspenders and shoulder pads.

In the pilot episode of the show, Michael fires a client who wants them to do “sleazy” ads. There is little talk of the creative process in this episode, though they make it clear that they started the firm because they didn’t want to “sell out.” “Selling out” is a phrase that these days seem antiquated. We think more in terms of “being true to our vision,” or, perhaps more accurately, producing works that will endure. The bar has been raised so high in advertising and all things marketing, that we never think of selling out because often times our best is still not good enough. We celebrate the Genius and the Inspired. Schlock is for losers, or people with low budgets. Maybe it flies in the local market, but certainly not on the national level.

“thirtysomething” was groundbreaking television. It showed the good, the bad and the really ugly of domestic life. It didn’t glorify motherhood, but gave us a glimpse into how hard—and tiring—it can really be. It didn’t glorify the entrepreneur, but forced us to look at the realities of business ownership: the constant worries of staying afloat, paying bills, and the sad truth that you can’t always have it your way. I remember watching the show people would talk about how selfish the characters were. Maybe. But they rarely got the things they wanted. We saw their heartaches and disappointment. As for me and my advertising career, like a character on thirtysomething, my life changed course. I went in-house and did advertising, but under the umbrella of integrated marketing, where I did PR, communications, and anything touching the world of promotions. I worked with a few Eliot and Michael types, and along the way, someone would mention something about “selling out.” We’d roll our eyes and think of our credit card bills and wonder who had the luxury to worry about selling out. That doesn’t mean we were happy with mediocrity. We knew: Great marketers don’t sell out. They just fail to create great work.

Friday Fix

If there is nothing else that you do to improve your marketing program, I’d like to beg for three simple things. These are things I witness daily, and they are such easy fixes. Here goes:

No need to appear desperate or pushy: Increasingly, I go to a new blog and before I can read beyond the headline a pop-up window appears, imploring me to subscribe. I’m not going to subscribe to a blog I haven’t read. Of late, I’ve taken to closing the pop-out window and clicking away from those sites. If you are going to be pushy, I don’t want to hang around and read what you have to say.

A Few Tweets Daily Will Suffice: I want to know about your new products, and see photos, and I want to hear your news. If you have a truly original pearl of wisdom to share, please do. I could use all the wisdom you have. I even want to hear that Junior won the baseball game, or that you liked the new episode of “True Blood” because, geez, I didn’t know that you liked “True Blood,” too, and now I know we have that in common and I want to do business with people I have stuff in common with. Having said that, I don’t want to open my Twitter page and see you cluttering up the stream with tweet after tweet. Like seasoning, you don’t need to overpower us. I tend to unfollow people who tweet too much. I’m not alone in that habit.

Listen to Your Clients: I’m bringing this up out of the blue, because I was just watching an old “Madmen” episode and I was cringing at how the handsome Don Draper was telling a client basically, “Shut-up, you don’t know what you are talking about and that’s why you hired us, so you better like our pitch.” It makes great TV, but in real life, your client just ends up either resenting you, making fun of you behind your back, or firing you. You are a strategic partner. Not a creative dictator.

There used to be this great saying (that seems to have lost its way): “The client is always right.” Granted, it’s not always true, but listen to what they have to say when they tell you why they don’t like your idea. Work with them to uncover what will really help you achieve the goals at hand. I should not have to write this. Yet I heard a story just today of how it happened to a friend. I’ve witnessed it on the client side, and I’ve been tempted to do it on the agency side. It’s tempting to turn into Don Draper, but if you are watching the show, being Don Draper isn’t exactly working out for him. So why bother?

Finding the Muse on a Partly-Cloudy Sunday

(www.roibal.net)

It’s Sunday. Are you sitting on the couch ruminating on how best to spend the day? Are you pondering a new ad campaign or a publicity event? Or, like me, are you working on a creative passion outside your job? I write fiction, which is no surprise, as a lot of marketing writers are closeted (or not so closeted) fiction writers. Come the weekend, I often find it hard to turn off work and decompress from the weekly routines by stepping into a new world where I play God, creating people and landscapes.

Whether you are contemplating a novel or trying to figure out a catchy slogan, we all get blocked creatively. If we didn’t, there wouldn’t be a multi-million dollar market for the hundreds of books on writers block.

I had an advertising professor at UC Berkeley who once gave us some often-repeated advice on what to do if we were creatively blocked. Take a shower. Not that the act of cleaning necessarily stimulates the creative neurons, it’s just that changing your situation, doing another activity, frees your mind and by freeing the mind, you give yourself some distance from whatever is blocking you.

I have plans to write today, but I have a sore tooth from a temporary crown that popped off, and my trigger thumb is not yet healed from a steroid shot the doctor gave me this week (who says that writers and athletes have nothing in common. We both have injuries from our careers that require steroids.) To say that I’m not inspired to write is an understatement. Give me a few more shots of coffee and that may change, in the meantime, here are some things I’m going to consider doing in order to stimulate my creativity on this partly-cloud day:

1) Read a short story by Flannery O’Conner or Eudora Welty.

Eudora Welty (www.Columbia.edu)

We all have our muses, and I have several; these two great writers are among them. All I have to do to get inspired to write is read “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” or “Why I live at the P.O.” Jesus, sometimes when I’m reading these writers, I think, “Why bother, who can do it as well as they did?” Imagine if they had applied that wonderful creativity and skill at nailing the truth in the marketing world. It would be a different field.

2) Take some photos.

Many artists have more than one talent. Look at all the musicians who are also painters or photographers. I find that when I want to write, I sometimes need to articulate what I’m feeling through a visual means. A shot of a tree’s shadow may express a sense of alienation, or a red flower caught in the sunlight might mirror an unnamed joy bubbling beneath my skin. After an hour of shooting, I can put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and the words start to flow.

3) Do what Natalie would do. Natalie Goldberg, that is. “Writing Down the Bones” is one of my bibles. I reread it at least once a year. Here’s a great writer and teacher who has made a career out of overcoming creative blocks. By the way, everything I just suggested above is something she has suggested, so big surprise, I have not written anything original, other than to put it in my own words, which I think will therefore enable her to forgive me. Natalie is a proponent of writing exercises. One of my favorites is writing about a “first.” The first time you saw a car wreck, or snow, or got kissed. Any first. The idea is that it gets you focused on a topic, and from there, see where you mind leads you.

4) Listen to Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce Springsteen (www.theocarsite.com)

No, do not listen to REM, or U2, or anyone else. Listen to Bruce. If you are a not a fan, well, I just don’t understand that, but what I’m getting at is this artist is a storyteller and he puts it to music more affectively than anyone I have ever heard. He does it with heart and soul and chords and beats. Listen to the words from any song on “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” and try to imagine the characters, what they look like, how they feel, their daily lives. Chances are their lives are vastly different from yours, but yet, the hopes and fears may be familiar. Think about the story you want to tell, then turn down the stereo and go write.

5) Talk it out. Sit down with a friend and say, “I have an idea,” then springboard your thoughts off this person. Listen to them. Their advice might be horrible, but is there any glint of brilliance or originality that you might want to consider. Think of this as creative therapy.

If none of these work for you, go to Amazon and search on Writers Block. As I said earlier, the topic has given many writers an added element to their career as counselor for those of us who get blocked. Even in the best of time, it’s easy to get distracted and find your muse or inspiration. Fortunately, there are tried and true remedies to the chronically blocked. Write on.

Celebrate Julia Child’s Birthday August 15, and Win a Classic

Audacious Ink just loves a good contest, and Champagne Taste is providing a real page turner, literally. They are giving away a copy of Julia Child’s masterpiece, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” in celebration of her birthday.

Check out their blog for details. NOTE: the deadline is August 13, so time is running out—I just discovered this contest myself. Champagne Taste is also asking participants to cook a recipe from one of Julia’s books and post about it on the site. It’s a great example of smart marketing, as contestants are encouraged to do more than just fill in their name on a form, but actually be part of something. It makes for a more memorable experience, and help builds customer (or in this case, reader) loyalty. By the way, this isn’t a “best recipe wins” type of contest. The winner is picked at random. Making one of Julia’s recipes is merely encouraged, out of a passion for fine food and fine cooking.

If you haven’t read the Audacious Ink post on “Julie and Julia” yet, check it out.

Okay, Audacious readers, good luck!