Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

As in previous years, and as recommended by marketing experts when you use current events to reach out to customers, companies are jumping on the World Cup bandwagon as an advertising vehicle. Inevitably, some are even playing to classic cultural clichés.
So having seen what the Croatians make of the English recently, I’d thought I’d examine [...]

One way to push people through the AIDA process is to tune into the Zeitgeist. In recent months TV advertising for beer has been set on fire by a Heineken campaign from the Netherlands that has captured the imagination of online communities the world over.
I have to admit it’s a classic.

Anyway, I have Doreen [...]

Companies often use things happening in the news to inject their products with interest and move forward the AIDA process. But this recent idea caused a bit of a cafuffle. Obama Fingers. Yes, you read that right: OBAMA fingers, like fish fingers only with chicken.

What the ….? [Image source: spiegel.de]
What in heaven’s name possessed the [...]

On the last but one MBA course, participants were keen to emphasise the fact that England was not taking part in the European Championship finals (funny, nobody mentioned it on the last course after Germany’s poor showing). The critics liked the latest posters for Lucky Strike, rubbing in the English absence.

It certainly plays to the [...]

Indeed what does interest car drivers? Probably a question they ask themselves a lot at Ford.
Of course we need to ask which car drivers. The old sexist joke is that some women are more interested in the colour of the car than what’s under the bonnet. Unlike ‘real’ men - who drive a hunky Ford [...]

Thanks again to an MBA for this example of a beer brand getting into the carnival spirit, thus riding on current events to attract interest. He tells me he saw the poster on business - OK, I’ll believe him, as I like the play on words (to non-speakers of German, “alaaf” is what revellers [...]

I once had a boss who said never do advertising unless you have news for the customer. Not sure I totally agreed with him, but I guess having something interesting to tell people is always useful in advertising. It’s even more useful if you can pull in their emotions.
When German mobile company D2 became Vodafone, [...]

Why do so many marketeers use topical news items or current events to plug their products? Because it immediately captures interest - with the right target group…
I’ve seen so many manufacturers in the past ride on the World Cup to reach out to the masses that I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen with [...]

A common tool used in BtB advertising is the “case study”. This is because it allows the reader to relate to an issue and identify with the need.
Here’s how not to do it. Statement making. Not a single mention of the customer (ok, it says “our customers” - but how about “you”). Dry text, dry [...]

What better way to involve the potential target than tune into a current news item or talk about something that interests the audience. This is what discount airline Ryanair did during the invasion of Iraq. They took a topical character and splashed him into the press advertising (for free - no need to pay any [...]