Award-winning journalist and freelance copywriter, Susanna K. Hutcheson, presents news, thoughts and ideas on the world of business, marketing, copywriting and much more.

AFLAC CMO Chops Head Off the Duck

Remember last time I discussed the fact that advertising should inform and not entertain. Well, looks like advertisers are finding that to be the truth for themselves.

According to an article today in Advertising Age:

Jeff Herbert has a marketing problem. Everyone knows his advertising icon, but he believes most consumers don't know what it sells. So he intends to clip the Aflac duck's wings.

Jeff Herbert, the company's first CMO and a classically trained package-goods marketer, plans to make the duck, created by Kaplan Thaler Group, New York, less visible and less audible. His plan is to focus more marketing on what Aflac does -- supplemental insurance -- while expanding its offerings and growing the category.

As I said, advertising should inform --- not entertain. After all the expensive, funny, well written spots, advertisers find that out. They go back to just plain selling. That is, if they're smart.


Susanna on 02.21.07 @ 04:31 PM CDT [link]

Keep Up With the Trends and You'll Sell More

Keep up. If you're a copywriter, an advertiser or simply have something to sell, you have to look at your company and your product or service from the outside in.

Peter Drucker said that too many CEO's look at their companies and products from the boardroom. They have a limited view of things. They see things as they want the shareholder to see them --- not as the customer or client sees them.

The result is the company fails. It loses market share. It gets old.

You have to know the current trends. Now I'm a woman who has seen many moons. But I try and see things like my clients see them. Most are middle age to older so that's no problem.

But I also try and see things as the 18 to 29 year old sees them. That keeps me on top of my game. I take lots of magazines I ordinarily wouldn't take. Good thing they're tax deductible.

I take Vogue, for example. Now I would not be caught in anything shown in the slick pages of Vogue. Oh, I might carry a Prada handbag or wear Prada sneakers. But to go to Walgreens in some of the get ups out of Vogue would not be Midwestern! Nor comfortable. But at least I know what's going on in the world of fashion. And when you're a copywriter and you deal with all sorts of clients, it's important to know what's going on in all kinds of things.

Trends. You've got to know them. Below are some of the current youth trends. Know them. Keep up with them. You can't stick one leg in the past and keep one in "your" present. You have to look at all things through other eyes if you're to succeed in business and advertising.

Trend vocabulary words of the day:

Cyber status: The average person's web celebrity, or lack thereof.

Neo networking: The next step in social networking has spawned a love/hate relationship with the medium, with love of socializing tempered by the pressure to connect and network.

Metrepreneur Culture: Consumers are not just creating content but producing and distributing it as well.

Right IQ: The move from an information society to a creative one. Consumers now aspire to right-brain brands and marketing campaigns.

Antisocialite: Difficulty and/or distaste for face-to-face interaction due to overabundance of web interactions.

Wasted: Environmental concerns manifested in a desire to not waste things, e.g. less packaging and fewer disposable products.

s take Ikea products and re-mix them into something else. See examples at ikeahacker.blogspot.com

Branded widget: A stylized RSS feed that resides on a desktop or blog with brand wraps and signage.

Godcasts: Religious podcasts the younger demographic uses to get religion or spiritual guidance on their own time.

Anche Chung: First real-life millionaire from the virtual-reality game Second Life.

Tuanguo: An Asian phenomenon where groups collectively pick a store and demand preferred pricing. Mobs of 500 or so are not uncommon; neither is the store closing its doors and offering 30% discounts to the group.

Web site descriptions:

SixDegrees.org: Actor Kevin Bacon founded this charitable initiative to connect causes and drum up donations both big and small.

SellaBand.com: Spend $10 to buy a share of an up-and-coming band (or if you're a band, cash in with backers of your own).

Nikemashup.com: New Nike site where you can make your own commercial using stock visuals, graphics and sound.

Hypemachine.com: Aggregating website that tracks songs, plus music news and blog discussions to show the most popular music topics in real time.

Text slang interpretations:

Book: Cool (perceptive text correctors read mistype of cool as "book").

404: "I have no clue." Can also refer to a person who is clueless (comes from the web error message 404 Not Found).

IG2G: I've got to go.

T@YL: Talk at you later.

Next time I'll discuss some current trends in advertising.

Susanna on 02.19.07 @ 08:53 AM CDT [link]

Advertising Shouldn't Be Entertainment, it Should Sell.

I know. You love the Geico television commercials. They're cute. They're well written. The acting is wonderful. But let me ask you, what do they have to do with insurance?

"It's so easy a caveman could do it."

Okay. What's so easy? And what's it got to do with insurance? And do the spots sell insurance?

Ad agencies love the spots. Creatives love them. This is what copywriters love to write. I ask you, why don't they write for television sitcoms? Because while these may be cute and funny and entertaining, I don't see how they tell you a thing about why you should turn to Geico.

Copywriters who can't sell but who write entertainment should consider writing for television. They may win Addy awards. But the value of a copywriter is how much he or she can sell. Period.

Susanna on 02.18.07 @ 04:48 PM CDT [link]

Fortune Magazine 1938 --- No Sportswomen Need Apply

I was catching up on my reading this weekend. I got interested in a 1938 issue of Fortune.(It's amazing what you miss by not being born yet!)

Well, I learn that Ginger Rogers was voted the best dressed "girl" in entertainment. Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy was voted the best dressed in public life. Kitty Carlisle was so voted for woman on the stage.

But what stood out was that "A number of sportswomen were considered, but nobody qualified."

Well!

A NEW DAY

Let the record show that things have changed. To wit:

In 1990, Life magazine named Billie Jean King one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century". In 1994, she ranked No. 5 on Sports Illustrated's "Top 40 Athletes" list for significantly altering or elevating sports the last four decades.

I don't think anyone much cares if women athletes wear Prada. Women are no longer judged on what they wear. And today, a woman is as apt to be on the cover of Fortune as a man.

So in catching up with my reading, I'm glad I wasn't around in 1938. The good ol' days weren't so good.

Susanna on 02.17.07 @ 12:26 PM CDT [link]

Advertising To the Older Woman --- the Woman With Power and Money

Advertising has always been a young person's job. And advertising has always been directed at the young. Well, all that is coming to an end. Just as women are now in powerful positions and we soon will have a woman president, the older woman is being recognized for what she is --- a person of strength, power and affluence.

Nearly all women over 50 want to see a change in society's view on women and aging. In addition, the majority of women believe that if media were reflective of the population, a person would likely believe women over 50 do exist.

For the first time, a brand is talking to women about aging in a positive tone. Continuing its ongoing commitment to widen the narrow definition of beauty, Dove, the global beauty brand, is boldly challenging the "only young is beautiful" stereotype with the next phase of the Campaign for Real Beauty: pro-age. Designed to expose what our anti-aging society has been hiding, pro-age celebrates women 50+ by showing their honest, real beauty.

The ads are being done by the Unilever brand ad agency, Ogilvy & Mather. Photography is done by the great American photographer Annie Liebovitz.

Now, as a woman of a certain age, I'll admit to wearing turtle necks and clothes that cover my aging neck. Notice that Hillary does the same thing. Men have done it for years with their shirts and ties. One hates one's neck as one ages.

I also have always used olive oil, salt, wine and other things on my face to keep age lines at bay. I started all this at sixteen because my mother told me to and I'm glad she did. I also spend a lot of money on anti-wrinkle cream. I don't wear makeup as it ages the skin. But I do put a lot of good stuff on it.

Well, my point is this --- women over fifty are women who have money. They are women who have influence and many have power. These are women who have long paid their dues and are now demanding their place. And the advertiser who overlooks these women does so at its own peril.

Contrary to societal standards, this new breed of financially independent and socially active women shares the Dove pro-age philosophy that beauty has no age limit.

According to the recent Dove global study, "Beauty Comes of Age":

- 87 percent believe they are too young to be old.

- 92 percent believe past generations of women over 50 were not doing the
things women over 50 are doing today.

- 91 percent of the women surveyed believe the media and advertising need
to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over 50.

- 97 percent believe society is less accepting of appearance
considerations for women over 50 than their younger counterparts, with
showcasing one's body the least acceptable.

Meet the new Dove women. Yes, these are older women and they appear very respectably nude in both print ads and television spots.

These are real women. This is the way the older woman looks. And in these ads they're showing that they're proud of how they look and who they are. There is no shame in the aging body. And, by the way, these are tasteful ads. They're not Calvin Klein ads with a young half-naked man or woman attempting to look seductive. These women are not trying to look seductive. They have nothing to prove.

I love these ads. And my guess is, they will sell lots of Dove.

How can you use this information? Simple. Don't ignore the aging population --- especially the older woman. Their purses are packed. And they won't pay you a dime if you ignore them.

Who is this older woman and what does she buy? Let's take a look at just a few. One is running for president of the United States. One is already Speaker of the House. One is black and the highest paid entertainer in America. Many run corporations. And one we hears wears Prada. She's been through menopause ---that's why she's the devil. Watch the older woman. She's taking over. Are you ready to give her what she wants? You should be.

Susanna on 02.12.07 @ 07:10 AM CDT [link]