Advertising is Everywhere

Everyone is trying to sell something to someone on an exponential level at all times. According to Forbes, Americans on average are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day, and that number keeps rising. This is evident in Morgan Spurlock’s film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Sold is the key word in the title. Spurlock literally sold the movie. The entire production of the film was funded by brands and companies. The documentary shows the behind scenes of branding, advertising, and product placement for the movie itself and advertising in general.

More than 412 billion dollars was spent on advertising in the United States the year the movie was made, 2011. Seeing this number, Spurlock had the inspiration to create a documentary that was essentially one long string of ads.

The hardest part for Spurlock was selling the movie to the first clients. Many of the potential clients believed the documentary would not be worth the cost and would not benefit their company. However, once Morgan got a few larger companies to agree to deal, he was able to sell the idea to more companies.

This film gives a unique insight into promotions. Spurlock shows how pitches to clients work and how difficult clients can be. His ideas were often shut down, and the clients’ visions took priority. Essentially, he is trying to show that creative ideas can be kicked to the curb in place of pleasing a client.

In my observation of the movie, I saw similarities to the show Madmen. Even though this show takes place in the world of advertising in the 1960s. In the show it shows the same processes of pitching to clients and pursuing potential clients. Even in their large agency, the characters faced the similar issues to Spurlock. Difficulties with clients is nothing new in the advertising world.

Product placement is one relatively newer concept that was emphasized in Spurlock’s film. Product placement is a certain product that is repeatedly seen throughout a movie or television show. The catch with product placement is, once it is agreed upon competitors of that product cannot be seen at all in the film. For example, Mini Cooper sponsored The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, so it was the only car brand seen in the movie.

This film pointed out advertisements that people are exposed to nearly every day, that many individuals do not even notice. It also shows the time and effort that goes into pleasing and selling clients onto an idea. I would recommend this film for anyone wanting to know more about the advertising field and what all goes into it.

Alabama Gulf Seafood: “Genuine goodness”

The Alabama Gulf Seafood campaign is great example of a successful campaign. The reason behind the campaign was the BP oil spill. The BP oil spill was the largest in the history of the United States, spilling more than two hundred million gallons of oil into Gulf Coast waters in a span of 87 days. This had a large impact on the marine wildlife and the entire coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. A negative image was inadvertently portrayed on the seafood of the Gulf Coast, including Alabama.

The state of Alabama turned to Big Communications, an ad agency in Birmingham, to change the public’s view of Alabama’s seafood. This is a tough task to ask of any agency. The BP oil spill was an international crisis that effected a relatively small coastline of the United States. Along with limited funding, changing the perception of Alabama seafood had no easy solution.

Nikki Lim, the Director of Business for Big Communications, spoke to my Account Management class about this campaign and what went into it. They had to start from scratch and differentiate themselves from other states who had already launched their campaigns.

Big Communications knew that the budget for this campaign was limited, so the best approach to take was to find successful local businesses that were also affected by the spill and create a common goal and build trust. The agency partnered with local fisherman, seafood chefs, restaurants, and business all along the coast of Alabama.

Once they partnered with these local businesses and people, Big Communication was able to put together multiple television and radio spots. Focusing on showing fresh, well prepared seafood rather than showing statistics about the spill was their approach. The advertising spots used the phrase, “Genuine goodness.”

After the advertising spots were created, they began to plan events with local businesses. For example, Alabama Gulf Seafood had a large tent serving food and selling merchandise at the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, one of the largest music festivals in the region. This allowed locals and tourists at the event to try a large selection of locally caught seafood while they were at the music festival.

The Alabama Gulf Coast Seafood campaign has shown to be very successful, as the television and radio spots are still being used today. Seafood restaurants and fisherman have been able to stay in business and even expand as well. This advertising campaign shows how an agency can work with a limited budget and still be able to affect public opinion even with negative external factors.

The “got milk?” Campaign

In the early 1990s Pepsi had created an advertising empire. They were creating new and exciting products and flavors while captivating a generation. Meanwhile the healthier option of milk seemed bland and boring.

The average amount of milk consumed had been steadily declining over the decade of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Basically, the population was increasing while the number of individuals consuming milk was declining. This resulted in many advertising experts labeling milk as a “lost cause.”

CFMPAB was formed as result of the plummeting milk consumption numbers. This committee was made up of advertising experts and shareholders in the dairy industry. This board was formed in a desperate attempt to reach a common goal, selling more milk.

The creative brief for this campaign basically stated, “start from scratch.” This means that there are essentially no rules and no limits to what could be done. The committee decided to focus on changing the behavior of the consumer rather than the “brand” of milk.

After the committee did extensive research about milk consumption in the state of California, they decided to make the people of California think about milk differently. Milk had become seen as a complementary piece to other foods and beverages. For example, milk compliments cookies and compliments beverages such as coffee.

This is where the famous phrase originated. The committee thought that if milk was removed from the food and beverages compliment it would create more of a need for milk. THs deprivation strategy created the simple saying, “got milk?” This slogan was labeled as unclear and was not supported fully, but the saying began to take on a life of its own.

The “got milk?” campaign started as a regional experiment to see if the committee could increase the amount of milk sold. However, the campaign expanded beyond this. It launched in 1993 and in just four years, the campaign expanded to twenty-three different posters, twenty-five TV commercials, and twenty-five radio commercials.

“got milk?” has become an iconic phrase in American advertising. This campaign is still being used in present day advertising today, 25 years later, across all mediums. This is a rare occurrence in the advertising world. Many campaigns are seasonal and can often be short lived, especially if they are unsuccessful.

The “got milk?” campaign is an excellent example of how an agency can create something from nothing. Milk was seen as boring, bland, and even tasteless before this campaign. Sales were dropping drastically fast with the rise of major soda advertising such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. The CFMPAB created a simple, yet effective idea from a brief with no rules or boundaries. This campaign with the simple question, “got milk?” has lasted for a quarter of a century and showed the advertising world that anything can be sold.

Creating a Unique Project

How do agencies succeed in completing projects, pleasing clients, and creating effect and unique approaches? It starts with account management. Account management is the to go between the client and the agency and prepares a creative brief for the other departments within the agency. The brief outlines the clients’ strengths, weaknesses, goals, ideas, wants, and needs going into the project. Creatives within an agency then create and work on the projects.

Even in this system of completing projects and pleasing clients, there is often tension between departments and/or clients and the agency. This tension can be due to the pickiness of a client, account management wanting creative to stick to the creative brief, or even tension between brands.

Luke Sullivan, one of the most influential creatives in modern advertising – author of the definitive book for creatives Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, has four steps to use this tension as a positive within an agency and for the project. Sullivan quoted, “Creativity happens in response to a problem, not a solution.”

First, find the tension. Sullivan says finding the tension creates something interesting. Basically, tension causes controversy, which in turn gains the attention of the consumer. For example, when a consumer sees an Xbox commercial it will not gain as much attention as an Xbox versus PlayStation commercial. Tension can also be for a cause, such as LeBron James’ “More Than an Athlete Campaign.” This tension causes discussion, conversation, and controversy which can boost brand awareness and sales.   

Second, the platform is a world with its own rules. Creative departments have the freedom to create their own platform. Sullivan defines a platform as “an idea that creates more ideas” and “a world with its own rules.” This allows creatives to stem now stories on these platforms.

Third, the more rules created, the better. The more rules created the stronger the story will be behind the product. These ideas and rules need to be simple and easy to grasp and relate to.

Fourth, find the truest thing. Study the product and the brand and the competitors and find the truest thing. An example can be found in toothpaste. The toothpaste might not be the best in the market to prevent cavities, but it may be the best for teeth whitening. Creatives will build the project based around the teeth whitening benefits if this is the case. This helps agencies focus on the benefits and most marketable parts of a product for a client.

These four steps outlined by Luke Sullivan all come down to the same goal, always be interesting. Creating a story on a platform is more entertaining and interesting to a consumer rather than just stating facts about a product. This is done by finding the tension and capitalizing on it, creating a platform with its own rules, creating rules and ideas that follow a simple story, and finding the truest, most marketable thing about a product.

How an Ad Agency Works

The past two blog posts have looked at the position and job on an account executive, but how does an advertising agency work?

Advertising agencies vary in how they run and how they are structured. Most agencies wil organize based on two different strategies. They will organize their company by departments such as creative, art, accounting, and so on. Other agencies choose a structure built into groups or teams that work on the same accounts.

One of the most important things to remember in an agency is that not every job is right for an agency. There are a lot of working parts that go into a project for a client, and it does not always work out. Sometimes and agency and a client just do not work, or click, well together.

There are multiple reasons that a client and an agency may not be right for each other. For example, the size and cost of a project may be the issue. A smaller agency cannot bite off more than it can chew while a bigger agency normally does not want to waste time and resources on accounts that are too small. Other times an agency and a client might not compliment each other. If a client wants very fresh, new, out-of-the-box thinking, an agency that is strong in account management but lacks creatively would not fit.  This means that agencies need to evaluate clients, and decide which ones fit their respective agency.

Once and agency has decided to take on a project, they begin the process of starting. It starts with getting cost estimates and creative briefs approved by the client and people within the agency. Then begins the creative process. The creative process is essentially brainstorming and coming up with ideas based on the clients wants and needs. Once an idea or pitch is agreed on, the agency moves on to the production stage.

The production stage is where the agency’s plan comes to life. This process includes hiring production crews, securing tv and/or radio spots, hiring and recruiting talent needed, etc. After the initial production, the agency and the client will look at the final product to make sure everything is how it was envisioned before it is released. Once, everything is finalized and the last edits are done, the project is released to the world.

Working at an agency is not just coming up with ideas and shooting commercials. There is a method and complicated process behind each project. Not every project is the right fit for an agency, but other times a client and an agency work together flawlessly. An advertising agency’s processes are dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients.

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