The Venus Report

WHEN IN-HOUSE BELONGS IN THE OUT-HOUSE

The Venus Report — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:54:57 GMT

Is bringing your advertising "in-house" a smart move in these belt-tightening times?

When costs need to be cut the use of outside consultants, including advertising agencies, is always a tempting target.

No doubt, bringing functions in-house can save on cost. But it can end up costing in other ways.

Advertising is very much a business of opinions and subjectivity.

And where subjectivity exists, so does the idea that because anyone can have an opinion – anyone must be able to do it.

The reality is, Advertising Agencies are filled with people who have studied for years and fought against 100’s of candidates to carve a career in a highly competitive industry. And in the process they have generally gained coalface experience across many categories and many brands. All of which are transferable.

Agency people spend thousands of hours in their careers solving marketing communication problems. This gives them the experience to process information and to get to the point very efficiently. And to avoid pitfalls and clichéd ideas that won’t work.

This specialization is exactly the same as with a specialist lawyer, tax accountant or tradesperson.

Clients would rarely take a Lawyer to task, their years of acquired knowledge well respected.

Nor would an Accountant suffer the criticism, scrutiny, and corrections from those outside those disciplines.

But it is not unusual for a CEO, Marketing or Sales Director, or business owner to decide they can write a headline and come up with an idea.

They push the idea downstream, and charge Marketing with the task of hiring a "designer" to bring their magic to life on a computer. They buy the dog and they bark for it.

Worse still, in-house designers either conform to a "house-style" years after it has become tired and ineffective, or blow with the breeze and produce inconsistent material that resembles no relation from campaign to campaign. And often they just follow directions from the top.

The end result? A brand with a confused identity.

In-house creative people are subjected to day-to-day pressure to adopt the corporate brand, and in turn may opt to limit their thinking to the path of least resistance. But what about the consumer brand? Well perhaps in-house departments are loathe to present a challenging new idea that will may cause friction and risk more work if rejected?

Agency creative people can be frustrating when they challenge assumptions or inject out-of-category thinking.

However this is exactly where they provide value and offer a competitive edge. Friction and challenging is vital to the creative process.

New ideas are always challenging.

Safe ideas are safe because they are old, comfortable ideas.

And why would you expect old, comfortable ideas to raise so much as a yawn from your prospective target audience?

Consumers are saturated with marketing messages every day and have better things to do than look at the same old safe advertising.

In a world where there are too many choices and me-too competitors, quality branding and advertising strategy is increasingly the thing that differentiates one offering from the next.

Advertising should not be looked on as a cost, but an investment.

Whether it's about cost or control, the adage "stick to your craft" may save your brand from longer term damage.

WHEN IN-HOUSE BELONGS IN THE OUT-HOUSE

The Venus Report — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:53:53 GMT

What sex is that chocolate bar?

The Venus Report — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:21:52 GMT

What sex is that chocolate bar?

As I unwrapped my Fling bar, I couldn’t help but feel all girl.
I wondered how many men would be devouring a Fling that day?

My experience working on confectionery came rushing back. I’d sat in many brainstorming sessions workshopping and tasting potential chocolate bars.

Men prefer a heavy eat, a satisfying, sweet hit often with plenty of nuts and caramel. To them it’s fuel.

Whereas women prefer a bar that feels light and feel less guilt indulging.

It is true that chocolate bars are divided by gender types. Well at least their advertising suggests this.

For the men, you have Picnic, the ugly, yet filling chocolate. More recently we have had Mr T selling the Snickers bar. You’ll see these ads in men’s magazines and airing heavily on TV during sport.

During Desperate Housewives and through the pages of New Idea or Madison, we have pretty love heart Cherry Ripes, light hearted fairytale Flings and Rafaello masquerading as a chocolate, but with no chocolate at all.

I love that the everyday humble chocolate bar has a gender divide.

Of course, both sexes like eating chocolate of any description. But the marketers know that if they play to the genders eating behaviours, sales will reward them exponentially.

It’s marvellous to see alcoholic beverages in the same vein. Blokes love beer, chick’s get sold champagne. Real tough guys drink bourbon, girls drink Malibu and Baileys may be arguably ambiguous on purpose.

Know thy audience; the cricket is flooded with heavy TV weights of Johhny Walker and Warney’s VB. You won't see a sparkling wine commercial running in that schedule.

Interestingly Wolf Blass have made two campaigns – seemingly targeting men and women separately. During the cricket they ran the "male" ad, with cricketers reminiscing their great shots around a mahogany bar. Concurrently they ran a compelling visual feast capturing the imagination and appealing to the fashionable sensabilities of females.

Tone of voice is an essential key to effective advertising. We know from the most successful salespeople that the sales pitch changes from male to female.

So it begs the question … if these categories are getting it, when will the other categories catch up? Automotive, Banking and Finance, Real Estate, Travel and Tourism, Education Services, Utilities.

All of these categories are ignoring potential growth opportunity by failing to talk to both sexes well, instead opting to try and keep a gender-neutral message.

FMCG have determined not to be SMCG’s (slow moving consumer goods), because they really get their audience and they’re not afraid to split it.

SIX WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR E-COMMUNICATION.

The Venus Report — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:09:10 GMT

Talking to your online database can be tricky marketing business.
You need to make sure they’re listening to you with their eyes and fingers.

Your email has to grab them from the inbox, and proceed to the motion of clicking open the email and sticking with you through the communication.

Outlined below are some questions you need to ask yourself when you are evaluating your online communication.

1.Hook em with a headline.
Grab their attention. We all know how we scan a busy inbox for the most important emails to read first.

Make yours one of them, with a compelling call to action, interesting offer, or some wit and humour. Nothing is more compelling that the promise of a reward or smile for opening some mail.

If your consumer is spending time with your brand via a one on one letter, it is your chance to be more conversational, casual and friendly.

Even an announcement of 25% off can be treated with sass and an upbeat tone.

2.Is it e-relevant?
Have you got new news? Don’t send them old, irrelevant, or already seen news.

With any luck, the reason they joined your database to begin with, was to get the latest scoop, and be rewarded with early information for being loyal to your brand.

Otherwise, what’s in it for them?

So play to your brand strengths.

Make sure every email has a reward for reading, or that "unsubscribe" option at the base of your email might just get a look in.

Once you have them, keep them.

3.Is it a byte size?
If the less-is-more law was ever relevant, it is here. No one wants to read a long and boring letter from their Aunt Bessie about her dietary habits, cat antics and neighbours gout problem.

Get straight to the point, cut to the chase and keep them communicated with in an efficient manner.

It’s probably why they signed up to begin with. They don’t have time for catalogue browsing, watching telly, or looking out for your ads.

They are busy people who know how to control their flow of communication.

They are in charge of the relationship so respect their time.

4.Does it look visual-e stimulating?
Start with an image or visual.

Do you have the thousand words in that picture?

Does it inspire you to continue reading? Does it telegraph the content?

Break up the deluge of business and personal emails in their Inbox with a powerful pic.

Remember how lovely it was to get a letter in the mail with a photo? The same rule applies.

5.Does the click thru click?

So you got them to open the email with a great headline, you impressed them with the content.

Now to get them to your site…

Have you got a reason? It may be a competition, a print out voucher, a "see the full range", a "read the whole story" that incites the recipient to keep on clicking.

Ask yourself why they would want to hop on your website.

Will they click thru and be impressed?

6.Do I like the habit they've got me in?

If you are engaging in a strong email campaign, then your loyal audience will love you.

Your communication will be a light point in their day, a minute with your brand may be "me time" and an escapism from a day of dross emails.

Many fashion brands, such as Topshop, get it right. They are relevant and rewarding. They are visually communicating, they are enticing. They are touching a side of their consumer that is hard to get in touch with.

Your database is a valuable property.

Treat them well and they'll continue to swell.

Handy hint: If you're planning to go down this path it pays to become an active online customer yourself. So sign up to as many varied online databases as you can handle. Especially your competitors! You'll soon find out which ones do it well – you’ll be glad to see them. Likewise, list the reasons you end up deleting and unsubscribing others.

WHAT’S THE STORY?

The Venus Report — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 03:29:02 GMT

As an Advertising Agency, the staff at Venus find that more than ever, we are tasked by our clients to come up with big ideas that will "generate buzz" for our clients brands.

Ideas that go beyond traditional paid media to make the message become a living part of the popular culture.

Fortunately we are exceptional at doing this… but make no mistake, this can be a daunting task: modern time-poor consumers are overloaded with choices, and saturated in media and information.

To make things harder, consumers are evolving in their ability to instantly identify and filter any unwanted stimuli. Today consumers don’t care so much for being talked at. They like to control the conversation, if and when it suits them.

What is ‘buzz’ anyway? Isn’t it a self-sustaining conversation about something that, while initiated by a marketer, ultimately must be owned and driven by consumers to survive?

What sort of things do people want to talk about or pass on?

We think it’s newsworthy things.

Stories.

More specifically, ‘remarkable’ stories.

Like Peter Alexander’s pyjamas.

Krispy Kreme’s donuts.

The Apple iPod that revolutionized consumer behaviour.

Stories still make our worlds go around.
We think we live in a world of overload, but it pays to remember loads of people still line up every week and pay a significant amount of money to spend 2 hours in a dark crowded cinema to satisfy their need for a good story.

Evening news is no more than a collection of stories.

Celebrity magazines? Stories.

If you have a close look, you’ll find all famous companies have a good story: something ‘remarkable’ at their core that sets them apart from their competition. And I use the word ‘remarkable’ quite literally.

If you asked 20 of their customers "What’s the best thing about Brand X?" you would get a pretty consistent story relayed about the brand stand for.

The web has turbo-charged the importance of the concept of ‘remarkability’. If you are great, your fans will probably be out there on the web singing your praises. And if you don’t live up to expectations, they will definitely be out there.

I had a bad experience with a Telco recently (their name is ironic, because with this kind of bad service they should be as dead as one now…).

Having tried several times, for over 18 months, to stop them from debiting my credit card for an old and long-closed internet account. They had been incredibly easy to sign up to, with great customer service. But when it came time to leave, they were incredibly unhelpful and difficult to contact. I became incredibly angry and frustrated, and even began to suspect their bad behavior could be a cynical business strategy, so I googled their name along with the words ‘scam’ and ‘disconnect’.

There it was at the top of my search, on a website called Whirlpool – pages of angry bloggers talking about the same Telco and their same experiences on the difficulty of trying to close account with them.

I wasn’t alone! When I called the bank to try and get some help on canceling the Telco’s direct debit, they had a remark for me – they told me they had loads of complaints about this particular supplier debiting accounts! I decided to share this insight by adding my post to the blog to satisfy my frustrations.

This may be an extreme example, but even if it’s not in the blogosphere, what are people saying about your brand?

Is your service remarkable? Your style? Your value? Anything?

As advertisers increasingly look to create buzz, not enough of them seem to realize that the basis and secret of buzz lies with them – with their brand.

If you are remarkable, then you have something to leverage.

If your offering is unremarkable, or your brand tired and dusty, don’t expect gimmicky ideas to give you any sustainable competitive advantage.

As the adage goes, you attract more bees with honey, than vinegar.

So start your brand buzzing.

venusadvertising.com.au

THE NOT SO SECRET TO SERVICE

The Venus Report — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:30:45 GMT

More new businesses fail in the first 5 years, than succeed.

Being a business owner myself, I take great interest in watching the new businesses that succeed and grow.

One lesson that comes out time and time again is how truly great service sets a winning business apart from its competitors.

Coming from a family of retailers, I spent my school holidays on the floor in my Grandmother's shoe store.

Looking back, I was privileged to have this extensive early exposure to all these grown up women in their natural habitat, going through their decision making processes:

The princess in her shoe heaven, constantly balancing left and right brain information.

Every piece of my 7 year old DNA remembers the theatre of consideration, justification and emotions that played out as women went through the lovely ordeal of trying to buy a pair of shoes.

My Grandma would throw herself at the feet of her customers, getting down on her knees to check the fit with the professional zeal of a passionate and caring salesperson.

She always seemed to know the right questions to ask, and would seemingly develop empathy with a customer so effortlessly that all the while I thought she was just checking the fit of a particular shoe.

Whilst her customer would strut a few steps admiring the fine Italian designs, she would future-proof the investment for these women.

Her eldest son, Peter Sheppard, would later quote her sales technique when he’d announce at the end of his TV ads ""My mother always said you can tell by the look on a woman's face if her shoes fit"".

I would take these sales floor lessons on unwittingly, and they came to mean something to me when I myself started selling on a shop floor.

Working part time as a Pharmacy assistant for 7 years, I was innately equipped with the skill of empathy and service. Today with my clients I still practice this.

These are four lessons I gleaned from providing great service to customers:

1.   Be acutely tuned in to the needs of your customer. Are they rushed, are they looking for engagement, do they want help, do they need you to be a sounding board?

2.   Can you help them beyond the reason they are in your store? Do they want to look at any other purchases? Is there something arriving in store next week they might be interested in?

3.   They are about to part with money. Can you reassure them, offer them validation for their purchase and remove that toxic post purchase dissonance?

4.   Is the transaction genuine? If you want your customers to come back – don’t go for an insincere pushy sale that will ultimately be a one hit wonder. Make it a truly rewarding experience for the customer. That way they’ll come back, because those shoes truly fit and the investment paid off.

Recently I took a gamble on booking in at a new hair salon that opened. I’d been watching it for months. The décor got better over time which seemed to tell me they were making profit and investing it back into their business. A good service signal.

Well, it delivered. Their service was impeccable.

They showed empathy with me, took the time to deliver what I had asked for, up sold me a hair treatment, threw in an extra special head massage. Before I knew it, I’d agreed to the next appointment and they’d given me a voucher for a free treatment and blow wave.

It was a service-oriented transaction, and one that I feel happy about.

They worked out the secret to retain customers with charm and ease and it reminded me of that proverb my grandma understood so well.

If the shoe fits, you do wear it.

THE FEMALE SHOP NEVER STOPS

The Venus Report — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:18:45 GMT

A few years ago, some enlightened US marketer drew a map of the different journeys undertaken by men and women shopping for a pair of jeans. See diagram below.

The male journey was direct, under 10 minutes and made in a linear fashion. Coincidentally, a lot of modern agency strategy planning takes this linear view to the buying cycle:

Trigger > Consider > Search > Choose > Buy > Experience

The female journey on the other hand was complex, retraced steps, explored many options and retailers, took a long time and then an outcome was made.

The amount spent by a woman versus a man, speaks for itself.

While there is always going to be a starting trigger or need that initiates the process, and a purchase made which concludes it, what happens in between is far less predictable, linear, or sequential.

Along the journey to purchase, a female may revise her thinking at any time.

She’ll touch it first and feel it, them pick it up, put it down again.
Move three metres and go through the same rituals, come back to it, try it on.
Research, phase one complete. (To be repeated many more times on many different occasions.)
Go to a new store.
Begin research phase two, three and four.
Have new doubts and return to phase one again.
And that’s just research. The decision to move from research to purchase could take 5 seconds, 5 days or 5 months.

Yes, the female process of making decisions is organic.

Women do "shop" for pleasure and for leisure. However, their functionality shopping is always undergoing review.

As part of female behaviour, notes and reviews are exchanged often and regularly amongst others.

Word of mouth, personal recommendation and the Internet or other quick-research methods will have played a big part in her loyalty to your brand.

Traditional forms of advertising will have played a major role of course. Moreover, they are often responsible for getting the personal "board of directors" endorsing a woman’s ongoing relationship with your brand by keeping it in the awareness.

If a woman has a wonderful first hand experience with your brand she’ll tell 5 of her "board of director" friends.

But if a woman has a bad experience with your brand she will tell that anyone that will listen. This is her way of purging the toxic experience from her world and protecting others from the same experience.

There are scientific explanations for this behaviour, and physiological reasons for the differences between the way men and women’s brains process information on purchasing decisions.

Because of the organic nature that drives this female behaviour, it may seem frustrating to the Marketer trying to attract or retain their consumer.

It certainly keeps Marketers on their toes, because this reinforces the adage that "everything matters."

And making an effort with her, respecting her, talking to her, LISTENING to her, creating trust with her, empathising with her are just the beginning.

Just because she bought yesterday, or is not in the market, don’t assume she’s not paying attention to your communications. Remember, her decision making process is never complete, and her radar is always on.

In the world where she can, and will, review your brand and it’s place in her life constantly, keeping up with her needs is imperative.

Remember, she controls the lions share of the average household budget, are a lot of places and products for her to spend it.

What is your brand doing to get on, and stay on, her list?

WHY THE AESTHETICS OF YOUR STORE MATTER EVEN MORE

The Venus Report — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:26:48 GMT

Ever noticed that women will, and frequently do, observe every minor detail?

The way you looked
at her when you kissed her goodbye.

The way her best friend was dressed up more than
usual when they went for a casual coffee.

A minor haircut or a color change.

The way her mother signed off an email.

Women are wired to tune in into subtle changes
and nuance. It’s what helps them nurture their 


offspring and tend to babes that can’t yet communicate. It’s an instinct that has
been developed

in the DNA of the female race.

It’s scientifically proven that women have different
brain structures and functionality to men. Males

and females produce different hormones, have different ways of interpreting communication 


and therefore respond differently to different cues.

Maybe this accounts for why women tend to do the
lioness-share of the housework?

Could it be because the look and state of their
environment has a greater impact on a woman’s feelings?

The way you store looks, smells, and feels, overlays
all her rational thought processes such as value 


for money and product benefits.

The appearance may be the key in swaying her one
way or another in selling your product or service.

Right down to the stitching on the lapel of the
Sales Assistant’s outfit, the way your windows are dressed,

 the shelves stacked, 


the imagery in store.

It all matters.

The way women feel in your store is very dependent
upon how your environment looks. If your environment

looks like it matters to you and provides "serving suggestions", stimulation and a
source of inspiration

the chances of converting her to purchasing are great. This feeling you have created
of harmony, tended 


and cared for, shows her that she matters.

And so your brand will matter to her.

Think of it like she is coming home from a trip
away (from your brand). If the house is messy and not

"house-proud" she interprets that you don’t care about her feelings. Or worse still,
that you are 


more interested in yourselves than her.

If the house is preened, clean and welcoming –
then she feels valued, nurtured and loved.

Form becomes as important as function in the decision-making
and buying process.

Take Apple as great example in creating an aesthetic
that pleases women.

The accessories that were designed to "dress up"
the iPOD with were a great example of embracing female

aesthetic values. This iconic music carrier is all about making life cleaner, simpler,
more compact and manageable.

You’ve just won over every woman.

In virtually every high-end fashion shoot the
stylist will choose a sleek lined, rounded corner, complementary 


colored Apple to adorn the shot over the dull grey or black boxed PC.

In the movie "You’ve got Mail" the lovely heroine
Meg Ryan used a Mac, whereas the dominating and greedy Tom Hanks 


used a PC.

It would seem that women are from Apple and men
are from IBM.

It is no surprise that most marketing decisions
are based on rational, product feature and benefits kind of thinking. 


In a world of parity and sameness, it is most commonly the place to look for competitive
advantage. 


These pressures can lead to aesthetics being overlooked or underplayed.

Yet this appeal can turn or burn your female customer.
The Marketer that tunes their radar to the world of appearance

will gain a competitive edge. In a world where women do notice everything, and look
for meaning in the detail, it is

imperative to take notice.

You might be the cheapest in town – but there’s
no need to look cheap.

A discount warehouse will earn its reputation
through the female community because it is genuinely cheaper and 


priced to please. 


It doesn’t have to live in an environment of ugliness to win the loyalty of her purse.

Sydney Real Estate Agents have recently noticed
that putting a luxury European car in the driveway or garage of a

house for sale can increase a sale price by around 10%. This ads to the old classics
of baking bread, brewing 


coffee for inspections, and renovating just the bathroom and kitchen to increase appeal.

All of these are aesthetics targeted at the real
family decision maker – the women.

Ask yourself how you can improve your aesthetics,
improve your appeal to women and you will without doubt, 


improve your bottom line.

Nando's Fix or fix Nando's?

The Venus Report — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 07:10:44 GMT

Is a pole dancing Mum in addiction patches the most lucrative way to sell Nando’s?

In a world where media dollars are now saturated with non-smoking messages, and nicotine patches are as competitive as Coke and Pepsi, where do Peri-Peri cravings fit in?

Are Nando’s patches being used as a metaphor to help us give up their menu?

One could not be blamed for already feeling confused about the message.

In this world where we apparently lack such self-control, that food advertising in children’s viewing time is to banished, it doesn't seem unlikely.

Though it is slighly odd that a Fast Food chain is advocating that you need patches plastered to your butt, until you can give up your cravings.

Are Marketers now so desperate to achieve cut-through and create ‘buzz’ that they are being convinced that any news is good news?

Well if negative PR and outrage is seen as a positive side effect of a TV campaign, perhaps Nando’s are doing a great job.

Even members of the advertising industry are eschewing such attempts to be "creative." An industry magazine article named, "Pick or Pan" chose to express their feelings under the heading of Pan: " …we were left in a state resembling cold turkey after watching this… at best this is confusing…why do her family all look so pleased with themselves when the matriarch of the family is behaving like she needs institutional care?"

The Women’s Forum of Australia is planning to appeal to MPs to overhaul the Advertising Standards Board of Australia.

Women's Forum Australia will launch a campaign to have the Advertising Standards Board overhauled on the grounds that its decisions do not reflect wider community standards, particularly on the exploitation of women.

The Australian Standards Board does not see the ad in the same way.

Joining the ranks of other "most complained" about ads include the Mentos Nipple ad, where a man’s nipples begin growing as he chews on gum.

The ad for Mentos Ice Chewing Gum attracted more than 220 complaints from members of the public, largely about the man’s erect and elongated nipples. It showed various scenes in which he uses his nipples to catch a Frisbee, to hang his sunglasses on, to turn discs on a DJ’s turntable, and to press a button in a lift.

The Advertising Standards Board dismissed the complaints against the ad at its meeting in October 2006, deciding that it did not contain "inappropriate sexual, nude or discriminating" material.

Despite this material being present in the Nando’s "nude, female Pole Dancer" ad, it apparently is not seen as inappropriate.

Perhaps not inappropriate for a sophisticated art house cinema audience, who would appreciate the witty sub plot and post-modern social commentary that underlies this mock-advertising genre, with a double pike and twist.

Perhaps middle suburban Australia doesn’t share the same sensibilities. Nor should an advertiser expect them to.

There is a line between ‘pushing the boundaries’ and outright offending or insulting a valid segment of the population. Even if they are not your ‘core audience’.

The deliberately over-the-top Sam Keckovich ‘Lamb’ campaign deliberately poked fun at vegetarians, amongst others.

Meat-eaters thought it was funny, and done in a lighthearted, fun way.

Moreover, the Client could be sure that vilifying this particular audience wouldn’t cost them a single lamb chop in sales.

So where do you draw the line with satire or fantasy?

Recently, the Advertising Standards Board made a decision to pull an ad in which a girl is taken by aliens, in the context of a fantasyland, to receive a Happy Meal. They rightly responded to the hundreds of complaints concerned parents made about "stranger-danger".

Therefore, the board does have a standard.

Nevertheless, not about pole-dancing women?

Effective advertising gets noticed for the right reasons. It creates impact that is not alienating to half the population.

Effective advertising does not need to resort to Dodo style sex-timonials to appeal to the most base intellect, or lowest common denominator. The one below the belt.

Advertising that truly works in the long term leaves the world a better place, genuinely makes humanity a kind gesture, and endears your brand in the hearts of consumers.

It is an unfortunate fact that within Ad Agency walls, in the creative departments, 78% of the workforce is male, and 94% of the bosses of creative departments are men.

A mere 6% of women get to decide what work gets presented to the Marketiers/Clients, and what work should be banished to the "not right" pile.

Perhaps if there were a greater representation of women at the top being asked to contribute to the creative consciousness (and conscience) of advertising, then less pole dancing and erect nipples, and more self-esteem for little girls, would be visible on the advertising landscape.