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Is your creative written to impress you or your customer? It ought to be the customer.
"Since 1934…a leader in the field…increase your productivity…highest quality product". A few starts to messages that we've all seen and read, all written or spoken to please a boss or an owner…all written to bore a customer. You have to realize that prospects and customers are savvy and they're also your biggest critics. They don't care how good you feel about yourself, they only care about what your product or service can do for them.
Advertising has to be written from their point of view. You have to give them compelling reasons to consider your company, or reinforce their decision in choosing your company in the first place.
In other words, direct your advertising copy to your prospects and customers, not your boss. After all they are the ones buying your product.
Our feeling is that Creativity is alive and well. Unfortunately, we live in age of parity. A new product is introduced and before you turn your head, competition is there with you. Real competitive points of difference are rare. The word competitor, by its definition means other companies provide products that can replace yours. So why is it that so many manufacturers rely on borrowed-interest visuals, pithy headlines, brag and boast text and cool gray bands of type when speaking to the people that are most responsible for their company's well being. The creative message needs to create impact, attract attention and inform…if you expect to persuade.
So how do you do that? Well, the first thing you do is never play it safe. Playing it safe inspires little reaction from your prospects and customers, but of more importance is that your competitors may not even feel it's a threat. And that's a shame.
And the second thing you do is never be satisfied with communications messages that are trite, cute, look good on a wall and say nothing to your customers. They're the kiss of death.
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