‘Mission for Finland’ nation branding report compiles two years of hard work (the Finnish country-branding delegation was created in September 2008) by a taskforce chaired by former Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila and appointed to draft a nation branding strategy for Finland.
According to Nation Branding, the report explores Finland’s strengths and aspects that could set the Nordic country apart and, as the authors themselves say, “would convince the world to turn to us more often and more effectively”.
The working group, whose strategic discussions were led by British specialist Simon Anholt, suggests many ideas, such as that organic production should account for at least one half of Finland’s overall agricultural production by the year 2030, that Finland’s lake water should be purified and made drinkable, that Finland should establish a peace mediation convention dedicated to Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari or that Finland should turn silence into a strong brand association.
This kind of challenges are ‘missions’ for the Nordic country. But Finland’s nation branding strategy also sets a mission for all Finns. The report calls on all Finns to participate, from grandparents passing on manual crafting skills, chefs developing dishes based on undervalued local fish, and the foreign ministry implementing an annual “peace negotiation day” inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari.
The nation branding group report lays out over 50 tasks for different players: ministries, companies, local governments and organisations as well as private individuals. According to Ollila, while the group was working on its report, ordinary people often asked what they can do. “One grandmother came and asked what she could do. There are things in the report for grandmothers to do, too,” says Ollila.
The committee took out a full-page advertisements in 30 newspapers imploring Finns to read the report and take the tasks to heart.
If you’re curious about the tasks included, here is the complete list of missions sketched at the ‘Mission for Finland’ report:
* 1. Mission for Finnish businesses:
SOLVE A GLOBAL PROBLEM AND TURN IT INTO A GOOD BUSINESS
* 2. Mission for the Ministry of Education and Culture:
THE EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF IMMIGRANTS TO BE RAISED TO THE OVERALL LEVEL, IMMIGRANTS TO BE TRAINED AS TEACHERS
* 3. Mission for schools:
A DAY OF RECONCILIATION
* 4. Mission for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs:
THE AHTISAARI CONVENTION
* 5. Mission for the Ministry of Justice:
DECISION-MAKING TOOL FOR THE WIKI-DEMOCRACY OF THE 100-YEARS-OLD FINLAND
* 6. Mission for the state and local authorities:
ONE PERCENT TO CULTURE
* 7. Mission for designers:
FROM CHAIRMAKERS TO SOCIAL DEVELOPERS.
* 8. Mission for Finnish entrepreneurs:
FINNISH CULTURE TO BE INCLUDED ON THE SHOPPING LIST
* 9. Mission for vocational education:
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR DIY
* 10. Mission for the Martha organisation:
THE ‘ADULTHOOD PACKAGE’
* 11. Mission for grandparents:
PASS ON YOUR MANUAL SKILLS
* 12. Mission for local authorities and the state:
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT TO PROMOTE ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRODUCTS THAT CAN BE MAINTAINED AND REPAIRED
* 13. Mission for housing associations and neighbourhoods:
ORGANISE A PARTY
* 14. Mission for economists and the Ministry of Finance:
CALCULATE THE VALUE OF VOLUNTARY, PEER AND DOMESTIC WORK IN FINLAND
* 15. Mission for municipal managers:
LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO ENGAGE IN PRODUCTIVE COOPERATION WITH ASSOCIATIONS
* 16. Mission for companies operating in industrialised areas:
FINLAND TO BE DEVELOPED INTO A SILICON VALLEY OF SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
* 17. Mission for tekes:
OPEN INNOVATION CAMPS AS TOOLS FOR CREATING INNOVATIONS
* 18. Mission for employers:
PROMOTE TEAMWORK
* 19. Mission for schools of economics and management consultants:
CREATE MODELS FOR MANAGEMENT BY PARTNERSHIP
* 20. Mission in Finland:
PUBLIC-SECTOR OPENNESS TO BECOME ACTIVE
* 21. Mission for the public sector:
PUBLIC OFFICIALS AS WARRIORS OF AN OPEN INFORMATION SOCIETY
* 22. Mission for schools:
SCHOOLWORK TO BE BASED ON OPEN INFORMATION
* 23. Mission for universities:
ACADEMIC OPENNESS INTO PRACTICE
* 24. Mission for the Ministry of Finance:
GROSS NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY AS THE NEW BENCHMARK
* 25. Mission for research policy:
EXTENSIVE DEPLOYMENT OF MATERIAL FLOW CALCULATIONS, I.E. THE ENVIMAT MODEL
* 26. Mission for schoolyard designers:
PARKING SPACES TO BE REPLACED WITH NATURE FOR A VARIETY OF PURPOSES
* 27. Mission for biology teachers:
TAKE LESSONS FROM THE CLASSROOM TO NATURE
* 28. Mission for the tourism industry:
HOLIDAY PACKAGES IN SILENT FINLAND
* 29. Mission for Metsähallitus:
MORE AND BETTER INVESTMENT IN COMMUNICATIONS
* 30. Mission for the President:
INITIATIVE ON NORDIC EVERYMAN’S OBLIGATIONS
* 31. Mission for regional employment and business policies:
TURNING EVERYMAN’S RIGHTS INTO LIVELIHOOD OPPORTUNITIES
* 32. Mission for institutional kitchens:
PORTIONS OF THE RIGHT SIZE
* 33. Mission for restaurants and the food industry:
GOURMET DISHES OF ROACH
* 34. Mission for the public sector:
NO BOTTLED WATER
* 35. Mission for the Ministry of the Environment:
WATER METERS, I.E. WATER AS THE VEHICLE FOR POPULARISING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES
* 36. Mission in Finland:
DRINK FINLAND
* 37. Mission for forest owners:
MODERATION IN DRAINING FORESTS AND SWAMPS
* 38. Mission in Finland:
HALF OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ORGANIC
* 39. Mission for the University of Helsinki and Agrifood Research Finland:
ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INSTITUTE FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTION
* 40. Mission for school children:
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER EVEN WITH
* 41. Mission for science centres:
SET UP PISA CENTRES
* 42. Mission for the politicians:
THE BEST SCHOOL FOR ALL IN A DIVERSIFYING SOCIETY
* 43. Mission for head teachers:
MAKE SCHOOLS A CENTRE FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD DEMOCRACY
* 44. Mission for public figures and top sporting figures:
TEACH IN A SCHOOL ONCE A YEAR
* 45. Mission for parents of school children:
CLUB ACTIVITIES AND PARENTS’ LEARNING OBLIGATION
* 46. Mission for the it sector and pedagogues:
NEW INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING TECHNOLOGY SHOULD BE DEVELOPED
* 47. Mission for higher education institutions and universities:
COPYING THE PISA SUCCESS AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
* 48. Mission for museums:
NATIONAL HERITAGE THE PROPERTY OF THE NATION
* 49. Mission for the media:
THE POPULARISATION OF SCIENCE TO NEW LEVELS
* 50. Mission for libraries:
ENSURE YOU ARE INDISPENSIBLE FOR FINLAND IN THE 2020S
* 51. Mission for owners of advertising spaces:
SPACE FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
* 52. Mission for schools and local authorities:
CULTURE FOR FREE FOR THOSE IN THEIR LAST YEAR AT SCHOOL
* 53. Mission for the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Ministry of Education and Culture and companies:
THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM SHOULD BE DEVELOPED
* 54. Mission for the social welfare authorities:
A CATCHER SCHEME FOR THOSE IN DANGER OF EXCLUSION SHOULD BE CREATED
* 55. Mission in Finland:
LEADERSHIP IS TEACHING
* 56. Mission for trade unions:
MASTER DIPLOMAS FOR THE BEST WORKPLACE TEACHERS
* 57. Mission for higher education institutions and universities:
A PERIOD AS A TEACHER, MENTOR OR DISSEMINATOR OF INFORMATION AS PART OF ALL DEGREES
* 58. Mission for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Ministry of Education and Culture:
ENHANCING COUNTRY BRANDING WORK BY DEVELOPING THE HOUSE OF FINLAND OPERATING CONCEPT
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
JFK's inaugural speech: what makes it great oratory?
President John F Kennedy would have been delighted to know that his inaugural address is still remembered and admired 50 years later.
Like other great communicators - including Winston Churchill before him and Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama since then - he was someone who took word-craft very seriously indeed.
He had delegated his aide Ted Sorensen to read all the previous presidential inaugurals, with the additional brief of trying to crack the code that had made Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address such a hit.
Fifty years on, the debate about whether he or Sorensen played the greater part in composing the speech matters less than the fact that it was a model example of how to make the most of the main rhetorical techniques and figures of speech that have been at the heart of all great speaking for more than 2,000 years. Most important among these are:
* Contrasts: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"
* Three-part lists: "Where the strong are just, and the weak secure and the peace preserved"
* Combinations of contrasts and lists (by contrasting a third item with the first two): "Not because the communists are doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right"
If the rhetorical structure of sentences is one set of building blocks in the language of public speaking, another involves simple "poetic" devices such as:
* Alliteration: "Let us go forth to lead the land we love"
* Imagery: "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans"
In general, the more use of these a speaker makes, the more applause they will get and the more likely it is that they will be recognised as a brilliant orator.
"Kennedy's inaugural address reflected his core beliefs and life experience. He was a war veteran -a combat hero. He had read the great speeches of the ages, and believed in the power of words. He thought that a democracy thrives only when citizens contribute their talents to the common good, and that it is up to leaders to inspire citizens to acts of sacrifice. And when he exhorted Americans to 'Ask not, what your country can do for you,' he appealed to their noblest instincts, voicing a message that Americans were eager to hear. He lifted the spirits of his listeners, even as he confronted the grim reality of the nuclear age."
But great communicators differ as to which of these techniques they use most.
Presidents Reagan and Obama, for example, stand out as masters of anecdote and story-telling, which didn't feature at all in JFK's inaugural. Mr Obama also favours three-part lists, of which there were 29 in his 10-minute election victory speech in Chicago.
Stark warning
Kennedy, however, used very few in his inaugural address. For him, contrasts were the preferred weapon, coming as they did at a rate of about one every 39 seconds in this particular speech. Some were applauded and some have survived among the best-remembered lines.
He began with three consecutive contrasts:
* "We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom"
* "Symbolizing an end as well as a beginning"
* "Signifying renewal as well as change"
From the 20 or so he used, other widely quoted contrasts, all of which were applauded, include:
* "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich"
* "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate"
* "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man"
The speech also bristled with imagery, starting with a stark warning about the way the world has changed because "man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
People of the developing world were "struggling to break the bonds of mass misery."
Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan was a master of anecdote
JFK vowed to "assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty" and that "this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house."
He sought to "begin anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity", hoped that "a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion" and issued a "call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle."
First inaugural designed for the media?
Impressive though the rhetoric and imagery may have been, what really made the speech memorable was that it was the first inaugural address by a US president to follow the first rule of speech-preparation: analyse your audience - or, to be more precise at a time when mass access to television was in its infancy, analyse your audiences.
Continue reading the main story
The Gettysburg great
Lincoln's short Gettysburg address had caught JFK's eye. Here is a sample of the speech:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
In the most famous fictional speech of all time, Mark Antony had shown sensitivity to his different audiences in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by asking his "Friends, Romans, countrymen" to lend him their ears. But Kennedy had many more audiences in mind than those who happened to be in Washington that day.
His countrymen certainly weren't left out, appearing as they did in the opening and towards the end with his most famous contrast of all: "Ask not..." But he knew, perhaps better than any previous US president, that local Americans were no longer the only audience that mattered. The age of a truly global mass media had dawned, which meant that what he said would be seen, heard or reported everywhere in the world.
At the height of the Cold War, Kennedy also had a foreign policy agenda that he wanted to be heard everywhere in the world. So the different segments of the speech were specifically targeted at a series of different audiences:
* "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill"
* "To those new nations whom we welcome to the ranks of the free"
* "To those in the huts and villages of half the globe"
* "To our sister republics south of the border"
* "To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations"
* "Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary"
The following day, there was nothing on the front pages of two leading US newspapers, The New York Times and the Washington Post to suggest that the countrymen in his audience had been particularly impressed by the speech - neither of them referred to any of the lines above that have become so famous.
The fact that so much of the speech is still remembered around the world 50 years later is a measure of Kennedy's success in knowing exactly what he wanted to say, how best to say it and, perhaps most important of all, to whom he should say it. - BBC Report
Like other great communicators - including Winston Churchill before him and Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama since then - he was someone who took word-craft very seriously indeed.
He had delegated his aide Ted Sorensen to read all the previous presidential inaugurals, with the additional brief of trying to crack the code that had made Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address such a hit.
Fifty years on, the debate about whether he or Sorensen played the greater part in composing the speech matters less than the fact that it was a model example of how to make the most of the main rhetorical techniques and figures of speech that have been at the heart of all great speaking for more than 2,000 years. Most important among these are:
* Contrasts: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"
* Three-part lists: "Where the strong are just, and the weak secure and the peace preserved"
* Combinations of contrasts and lists (by contrasting a third item with the first two): "Not because the communists are doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right"
If the rhetorical structure of sentences is one set of building blocks in the language of public speaking, another involves simple "poetic" devices such as:
* Alliteration: "Let us go forth to lead the land we love"
* Imagery: "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans"
In general, the more use of these a speaker makes, the more applause they will get and the more likely it is that they will be recognised as a brilliant orator.
"Kennedy's inaugural address reflected his core beliefs and life experience. He was a war veteran -a combat hero. He had read the great speeches of the ages, and believed in the power of words. He thought that a democracy thrives only when citizens contribute their talents to the common good, and that it is up to leaders to inspire citizens to acts of sacrifice. And when he exhorted Americans to 'Ask not, what your country can do for you,' he appealed to their noblest instincts, voicing a message that Americans were eager to hear. He lifted the spirits of his listeners, even as he confronted the grim reality of the nuclear age."
But great communicators differ as to which of these techniques they use most.
Presidents Reagan and Obama, for example, stand out as masters of anecdote and story-telling, which didn't feature at all in JFK's inaugural. Mr Obama also favours three-part lists, of which there were 29 in his 10-minute election victory speech in Chicago.
Stark warning
Kennedy, however, used very few in his inaugural address. For him, contrasts were the preferred weapon, coming as they did at a rate of about one every 39 seconds in this particular speech. Some were applauded and some have survived among the best-remembered lines.
He began with three consecutive contrasts:
* "We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom"
* "Symbolizing an end as well as a beginning"
* "Signifying renewal as well as change"
From the 20 or so he used, other widely quoted contrasts, all of which were applauded, include:
* "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich"
* "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate"
* "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man"
The speech also bristled with imagery, starting with a stark warning about the way the world has changed because "man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."
People of the developing world were "struggling to break the bonds of mass misery."
Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan was a master of anecdote
JFK vowed to "assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty" and that "this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house."
He sought to "begin anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity", hoped that "a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion" and issued a "call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle."
First inaugural designed for the media?
Impressive though the rhetoric and imagery may have been, what really made the speech memorable was that it was the first inaugural address by a US president to follow the first rule of speech-preparation: analyse your audience - or, to be more precise at a time when mass access to television was in its infancy, analyse your audiences.
Continue reading the main story
The Gettysburg great
Lincoln's short Gettysburg address had caught JFK's eye. Here is a sample of the speech:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."
In the most famous fictional speech of all time, Mark Antony had shown sensitivity to his different audiences in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by asking his "Friends, Romans, countrymen" to lend him their ears. But Kennedy had many more audiences in mind than those who happened to be in Washington that day.
His countrymen certainly weren't left out, appearing as they did in the opening and towards the end with his most famous contrast of all: "Ask not..." But he knew, perhaps better than any previous US president, that local Americans were no longer the only audience that mattered. The age of a truly global mass media had dawned, which meant that what he said would be seen, heard or reported everywhere in the world.
At the height of the Cold War, Kennedy also had a foreign policy agenda that he wanted to be heard everywhere in the world. So the different segments of the speech were specifically targeted at a series of different audiences:
* "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill"
* "To those new nations whom we welcome to the ranks of the free"
* "To those in the huts and villages of half the globe"
* "To our sister republics south of the border"
* "To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations"
* "Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary"
The following day, there was nothing on the front pages of two leading US newspapers, The New York Times and the Washington Post to suggest that the countrymen in his audience had been particularly impressed by the speech - neither of them referred to any of the lines above that have become so famous.
The fact that so much of the speech is still remembered around the world 50 years later is a measure of Kennedy's success in knowing exactly what he wanted to say, how best to say it and, perhaps most important of all, to whom he should say it. - BBC Report
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Draftfcb's EVP, Steve Schildwachter, Tells Why Global Brands Matter -- more now than ever before
Steve Schildwachter, Executive Vice President at "through-the-line" agency Draftfcb, would describe his agency experience as a mix of brand equity building, new product development and retail tactics. These key roles for brand growth, combined with his specialization in International Marketing, have also prompted him to pose the question, "Why should a brand be global?:
According to Schildwachter, "When we think of global category leaders, Coca-Cola and McDonald's are top-of-mind examples. Even if they aren't #1 in every country, they're big globally."
He continues, "Some big global brands, however, are a combination of different brands in different countries. Pledge in some countries is Pronto, Pliz or Blem."
"Reckitt Benckiser, a large CPG company, recently rebranded some products so they could be marketed as a common, global brand. As a result, in the US, Electrosol dishwasher detergent has changing to Finish -- as it is known in the rest of the world. Reckitt also rebranded many household insecticides under Mortein. Even Starbucks' Via brand instant coffee is going global as well."
This again leads Steve Schildwachter to ask, "Why should a brand be global?" He recognizes the cost efficiencies of having the same product, package, and promotion around the world. Benefits also extend to efficiencies in commercializing products locally.
Yet, in our 21st century world, he sees another opportunity to consider: Social media. Schildwachter believes, "Social media is likely to speed the homogenization of disparate brands sold by global marketers."
He says, "If you have ever tracked your brand on any social media, you know that people are discussing it, and in some cases spelling it differently or slightly misstating the brand or product name. Imagine trying to track this conversation if your brand name is different from country to country.
Years ago this didn't matter, not only because consumers didn't regularly communicate with others abroad, but because marketing was so different from country to country. Today you are likely to have the same product marketed under the same name, if not globally, then in every country within the Euro Zone, NAFTA, ASEAN or other international trading areas."
He also cites data from Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson who points out that most visitors to major online resources come from outside the United States. In other words, 72% of visitors on Twitter are considered to be ex-US, as well as 78% on Facebook, and 84% on Google. He adds, "Companies need to pay as much attention to monetizing their usage around the world as they do in the United States."
The Chicago-based Schildwachter also hosts an advertising blog called Ad Majorum, which he characterizes as "a view from within a large agency, and how an executive there embraces the changes and challenges of modern marketing and advertising."
For those who forget their Latin, "Ad Majorem" loosely translates to English as "to the greater." Schildwachter also underscores that the "ad" in Ad Majorem means all marketing communications-- from social media to direct mail to Internet gaming to television commercials. He sums ups, "This time of change is actually an opportunity for better advertising: stronger consumer insights, more powerful ideas, channel-neutral marketing plans, and accountability so we know what sells and what doesn't." - The Internationalist
According to Schildwachter, "When we think of global category leaders, Coca-Cola and McDonald's are top-of-mind examples. Even if they aren't #1 in every country, they're big globally."
He continues, "Some big global brands, however, are a combination of different brands in different countries. Pledge in some countries is Pronto, Pliz or Blem."
"Reckitt Benckiser, a large CPG company, recently rebranded some products so they could be marketed as a common, global brand. As a result, in the US, Electrosol dishwasher detergent has changing to Finish -- as it is known in the rest of the world. Reckitt also rebranded many household insecticides under Mortein. Even Starbucks' Via brand instant coffee is going global as well."
This again leads Steve Schildwachter to ask, "Why should a brand be global?" He recognizes the cost efficiencies of having the same product, package, and promotion around the world. Benefits also extend to efficiencies in commercializing products locally.
Yet, in our 21st century world, he sees another opportunity to consider: Social media. Schildwachter believes, "Social media is likely to speed the homogenization of disparate brands sold by global marketers."
He says, "If you have ever tracked your brand on any social media, you know that people are discussing it, and in some cases spelling it differently or slightly misstating the brand or product name. Imagine trying to track this conversation if your brand name is different from country to country.
Years ago this didn't matter, not only because consumers didn't regularly communicate with others abroad, but because marketing was so different from country to country. Today you are likely to have the same product marketed under the same name, if not globally, then in every country within the Euro Zone, NAFTA, ASEAN or other international trading areas."
He also cites data from Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson who points out that most visitors to major online resources come from outside the United States. In other words, 72% of visitors on Twitter are considered to be ex-US, as well as 78% on Facebook, and 84% on Google. He adds, "Companies need to pay as much attention to monetizing their usage around the world as they do in the United States."
The Chicago-based Schildwachter also hosts an advertising blog called Ad Majorum, which he characterizes as "a view from within a large agency, and how an executive there embraces the changes and challenges of modern marketing and advertising."
For those who forget their Latin, "Ad Majorem" loosely translates to English as "to the greater." Schildwachter also underscores that the "ad" in Ad Majorem means all marketing communications-- from social media to direct mail to Internet gaming to television commercials. He sums ups, "This time of change is actually an opportunity for better advertising: stronger consumer insights, more powerful ideas, channel-neutral marketing plans, and accountability so we know what sells and what doesn't." - The Internationalist
Thursday, January 6, 2011
'I Predict 13 Changes'
Advertising legend, David Ogilvy concludes his famous book 'Ogilvy on Advertising' by predicting as many as 13 changes. Have a look at the list and judge for yourself to what extent he is right or relevant today.
1. The quality of research will improve, and this will generate a bigger corpus of knowledge as to what works and what doesn't. Creative people will learn to exploit this knowledge, thereby improving their strike rate at the cash register.
2. There will be a renaissance in print advertising.
3. Advertising will contain more information and less hot air.
4. Billboards will be abolished.
5. The clutter of commercials on television and radio will be brought under control.
6. Their will be a vast increase in the use of advertising by governments for purposes of education, particularly health education.
7. Advertising will play a part in bringing the population explosion under control.
8. Candidates for political office will stop using dishonest advertising.
9. The quality and efficiency of advertising overseas will continue to improve -at an accelerating rate. More foreign tortoises will overtake the American hare.
10. Several foreign agencies will open offices in the United States, and will prosper.
11. Multinational manufacturers will increase their market-shares all over the non-Communist world, and will market more of their brands internationally. The advertising campaigns for these brands will emanate from the headquarters of multinational agencies, but will be adapted to respect differences in local culture.
12. Direct response advertising will cease to be a separate specialty, and will be folded in the general agencies.
13. Ways will be found to produce effective television commercials at a more sensible cost.
1. The quality of research will improve, and this will generate a bigger corpus of knowledge as to what works and what doesn't. Creative people will learn to exploit this knowledge, thereby improving their strike rate at the cash register.
2. There will be a renaissance in print advertising.
3. Advertising will contain more information and less hot air.
4. Billboards will be abolished.
5. The clutter of commercials on television and radio will be brought under control.
6. Their will be a vast increase in the use of advertising by governments for purposes of education, particularly health education.
7. Advertising will play a part in bringing the population explosion under control.
8. Candidates for political office will stop using dishonest advertising.
9. The quality and efficiency of advertising overseas will continue to improve -at an accelerating rate. More foreign tortoises will overtake the American hare.
10. Several foreign agencies will open offices in the United States, and will prosper.
11. Multinational manufacturers will increase their market-shares all over the non-Communist world, and will market more of their brands internationally. The advertising campaigns for these brands will emanate from the headquarters of multinational agencies, but will be adapted to respect differences in local culture.
12. Direct response advertising will cease to be a separate specialty, and will be folded in the general agencies.
13. Ways will be found to produce effective television commercials at a more sensible cost.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Six ads that changed the way you think
Advertisers have always sought to influence and persuade - no more so than at this time of year. But since the advent of mass communications, there has been only a handful of ads that monumentally changed the way people think about a product.
De Beers
Engagement ring Before the A Diamond is Forever ads, diamond rings weren't the premier symbol of engagement
Through its bold advertising, diamond giant DeBeers did something extraordinary - it managed to convince generations of men and women that the only acceptable symbol of an engagement was a diamond ring.
Prior to the "A Diamond is Forever" campaign - which launched in 1948 and was named by Advertising Age as the most effective campaign of the 20th Century - diamond rings weren't synonymous with marriage or engagement. Peruse 19th Century literature and there's nary a mention of diamond engagement rings.
But DeBeers changed that.
Diamonds aren't particularly rare, but they are the hardest substance on earth - a quality that lends itself to notions of eternity. In pointing that out, and infusing it with notions of romance, DeBeers literally changed Western culture.
Volkswagen
As fans of TV's Mad Men surely know, American advertisers in the late 1950s and early 1960s fed consumers a steady diet of traditional gender stereotypes, earnest claims of product efficacy and aspirational characterisations of the American dream.
Volkswagen logo VW's Think Small ad pioneered the use of irony and wit in advertising
Volkswagen humbly shattered those conventions.
The Beetle was a car that Americans did not want. It was made by Germans, whose relations with America were mired in post-war tension. It had an odd shape and a loud, roaring engine.
By contrast, the ideal American cars at the time were enormous, powerful machines, sleekly lined and finished with flashy fins. While American automakers were busy seeking inspiration from the burgeoning airline industry, the VW Beetle seemed stodgy and grounded.
Then, in 1959, VW unveiled its "Think Small" campaign, deliberately highlighting the vehicle's perceived flaw.
There was no pretty girl casting her flirty eye over the car. There was no cool guy driving it. It was nothing short of groundbreaking.
"It was self-deprecating. It was the first post-modern ad," Bob Garfield, an advertising industry consultant and former columnist for Advertising Age, told the BBC.
"Hitherto all advertising had been as serious as a thrombosis. That ad ushered in a whole era of humour, wit and irony in advertising."
VW followed up with the famous "Lemon" ad, which informed car-buyers of VW's process of weeding out bad vehicles, while cheekily nodding at worries that the Beetle itself was a lemon.
Many advertisers followed suit. Perhaps most notably Avis rental cars, whose We Try Harder campaign made a virtue out of their second place position in the US market.
The Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man certainly wasn't the first iconic advertising figure.
Marlboro Man billboard above Sunset Strip, shown Sept 28, 1995, in West Hollywood, California The Marlboro Man transformed the brand into an ultra-masculine accessory
In 1939, Coca-Cola helped create the modern image of a cheery, rotund, red-outfitted Santa Claus. Before that, representations of St Nick had ranged from skinny and creepy, to stern and downright scary.
Ronald McDonald, like the Marlboro Man, is so recognisable that the product name need not be displayed.
But the Marlboro Man did something more. He transformed the Marlboro brand from a mild ladies' cigarette into a rugged, ultra-masculine accessory.
Unlike Ronald McDonald, men aspired to be the Marlboro Man.
The campaign was wildly successful - Marlboro sales increased 300% in the two years after the ad debuted in 1955.
"There is just a handful of ads ever created that have actually become more important than the product itself, that created wealth and built fortunes," Mr Garfield said.
The Marlboro Man did that through the simple insight that a person's cigarette could speak to his or her self image.
James Twitchell, author of 20 Ads that Shook the World, told that BBC that in addition, the Marlboro Man was an achievement because it found success at a time when Americans were learning that cigarettes were genuinely dangerous, addictive products that could kill you.
"The Marlboro Man was strong, powerful. He never speaks. He's so tough," Mr Twitchell said. "The genius of the ad is that at the same time there was a rising realisation that this thing will kill you, it was identified with a character who was, on the face of it, indomitable."
Sadly, the three actors who played the Marlboro Man died of lung cancer. One sued Phillip Morris and the cigarettes became known colloquially as "cowboy killers".
Nike
In many ways, the differences between pairs of training shoe are marginal. Mr Twitchell calls them fungible, "essentially interchangeable."
Nike swoosh The globally recognized swoosh is one of Nike's advertising successes
But successive savvy advertising strategies turned a little Oregon sports outfitter into the globally dominant sports giant Nike. Their swoosh logo is now one of the most recognizable images on the planet, rendering the actual name unnecessary.
And while Nike may not have been the first company to seek celebrity plugs, its relationship with Michael Jordan is arguably the most successful endorsement in history.
"Nike's great insight was forget the shoe, own the athlete," says Mr Twitchell.
The release of the Just Do It motto in 1988 was a transformative moment for the company, weaving their brand, seemingly forever, with the inspiring and dramatic physicality of sport.
"This was advertising transcending the product. Nike is not a design or a style. It's an idea. They own sport - its passion, its grit," said Mr Garfield.
"They use the same offshore factories and cheap materials as everybody else. But they represent the drama and passion of sport. They just own it."
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka ad Absolut Vodka created a new marke.
Like DeBeers, Absolut Vodka's advertising literally created a market where one did not exist.
In 1981, Absolut launched a campaign that would run for nearly three decades using simple ads with prominent images of their distinctive vodka bottle and plays on the word "absolute".
Before that, vodka had seldom been advertised and there was no premium vodka industry.
"Absolut turned a commodity into a badge brand," Mr Garfield said. "They did it on brand name and bottle shape. It was a remarkable visual campaign."
Mr Twitchell agrees.
"Vodka is a hard drink to separate on the basis of taste, so they separated their brand through narrative and package," he says.
These days, premium vodka is an enormous business. Brands like Grey Goose, Ketel One and Chopin owe much to Absolut's pioneering ads.
President Lyndon Johnson
Although aired just once, this chilling ad is considered one of the most effective US political history
American political advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry these days. Many campaigns have been highly effective, including Ronald Reagan's It's Morning in America campaign or the Republican "Willie Horton" attack ad against Michael Dukakis.
But few campaigns have been as memorable or as devastating as the Daisy ad.
It depicted a young girl playing innocently with a flower in a field. She looks up towards the sky and the camera zooms in on her eye and cuts to a shot of an atomic mushroom cloud.
An announcer urges Americans to vote for Lyndon Johnson because "the stakes are too high for you to stay home".
The ad was chilling and probably unfair, and it paved the way for the modern attack ad.
"It really showed that dirty advertising could produce clear results for the person who could do it well," said Mr Twitchell.
It was also pioneering in a different sense.
The ad was only played once as a paid advertisement by the Democratic National Committee. But it was so controversial it was shown numerous times on news programs and referred to in newspapers and magazines.
The ad was so good it got free publicity - a scenario many campaigns have tried to emulate, but few have actually managed.
Honourable mentions
Calvin Klein ad Calvin Klein continues to make racy ads
Apple's 1984 ad, directed by film legend Ridley Scott, was screened just once, but it imprinted Apple as what Mr Garfield calls "the heroic insurgent against the looming, evil, tyrannical information Big Brother, which at that point was IBM".
With Macintosh, Apple had created a revolutionary operating system, relying on a mouse and desktop icons. But the ad didn't show a glimpse of either. It simply branded Apple as smashing convention.
In 1980, 15-year-old Brooke Shields sparked controversy when she told audiences in a breathy whisper: "You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."
The overt sexualization of a young girl in the service of Calvin Klein jeans outraged many Americans, but it also sparked a designer denim craze that persists to this day, and encouraged Calvin Klein to continue to produce racy, provocative ads for decades.
"It was the beginning of the shockervertising plague that befell the Western world for five years," Mr Garfield said ruefully. "Calvin Klein wasn't an advertiser as much as an arsonist."- BBC REPORT
De Beers
Engagement ring Before the A Diamond is Forever ads, diamond rings weren't the premier symbol of engagement
Through its bold advertising, diamond giant DeBeers did something extraordinary - it managed to convince generations of men and women that the only acceptable symbol of an engagement was a diamond ring.
Prior to the "A Diamond is Forever" campaign - which launched in 1948 and was named by Advertising Age as the most effective campaign of the 20th Century - diamond rings weren't synonymous with marriage or engagement. Peruse 19th Century literature and there's nary a mention of diamond engagement rings.
But DeBeers changed that.
Diamonds aren't particularly rare, but they are the hardest substance on earth - a quality that lends itself to notions of eternity. In pointing that out, and infusing it with notions of romance, DeBeers literally changed Western culture.
Volkswagen
As fans of TV's Mad Men surely know, American advertisers in the late 1950s and early 1960s fed consumers a steady diet of traditional gender stereotypes, earnest claims of product efficacy and aspirational characterisations of the American dream.
Volkswagen logo VW's Think Small ad pioneered the use of irony and wit in advertising
Volkswagen humbly shattered those conventions.
The Beetle was a car that Americans did not want. It was made by Germans, whose relations with America were mired in post-war tension. It had an odd shape and a loud, roaring engine.
By contrast, the ideal American cars at the time were enormous, powerful machines, sleekly lined and finished with flashy fins. While American automakers were busy seeking inspiration from the burgeoning airline industry, the VW Beetle seemed stodgy and grounded.
Then, in 1959, VW unveiled its "Think Small" campaign, deliberately highlighting the vehicle's perceived flaw.
There was no pretty girl casting her flirty eye over the car. There was no cool guy driving it. It was nothing short of groundbreaking.
"It was self-deprecating. It was the first post-modern ad," Bob Garfield, an advertising industry consultant and former columnist for Advertising Age, told the BBC.
"Hitherto all advertising had been as serious as a thrombosis. That ad ushered in a whole era of humour, wit and irony in advertising."
VW followed up with the famous "Lemon" ad, which informed car-buyers of VW's process of weeding out bad vehicles, while cheekily nodding at worries that the Beetle itself was a lemon.
Many advertisers followed suit. Perhaps most notably Avis rental cars, whose We Try Harder campaign made a virtue out of their second place position in the US market.
The Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man certainly wasn't the first iconic advertising figure.
Marlboro Man billboard above Sunset Strip, shown Sept 28, 1995, in West Hollywood, California The Marlboro Man transformed the brand into an ultra-masculine accessory
In 1939, Coca-Cola helped create the modern image of a cheery, rotund, red-outfitted Santa Claus. Before that, representations of St Nick had ranged from skinny and creepy, to stern and downright scary.
Ronald McDonald, like the Marlboro Man, is so recognisable that the product name need not be displayed.
But the Marlboro Man did something more. He transformed the Marlboro brand from a mild ladies' cigarette into a rugged, ultra-masculine accessory.
Unlike Ronald McDonald, men aspired to be the Marlboro Man.
The campaign was wildly successful - Marlboro sales increased 300% in the two years after the ad debuted in 1955.
"There is just a handful of ads ever created that have actually become more important than the product itself, that created wealth and built fortunes," Mr Garfield said.
The Marlboro Man did that through the simple insight that a person's cigarette could speak to his or her self image.
James Twitchell, author of 20 Ads that Shook the World, told that BBC that in addition, the Marlboro Man was an achievement because it found success at a time when Americans were learning that cigarettes were genuinely dangerous, addictive products that could kill you.
"The Marlboro Man was strong, powerful. He never speaks. He's so tough," Mr Twitchell said. "The genius of the ad is that at the same time there was a rising realisation that this thing will kill you, it was identified with a character who was, on the face of it, indomitable."
Sadly, the three actors who played the Marlboro Man died of lung cancer. One sued Phillip Morris and the cigarettes became known colloquially as "cowboy killers".
Nike
In many ways, the differences between pairs of training shoe are marginal. Mr Twitchell calls them fungible, "essentially interchangeable."
Nike swoosh The globally recognized swoosh is one of Nike's advertising successes
But successive savvy advertising strategies turned a little Oregon sports outfitter into the globally dominant sports giant Nike. Their swoosh logo is now one of the most recognizable images on the planet, rendering the actual name unnecessary.
And while Nike may not have been the first company to seek celebrity plugs, its relationship with Michael Jordan is arguably the most successful endorsement in history.
"Nike's great insight was forget the shoe, own the athlete," says Mr Twitchell.
The release of the Just Do It motto in 1988 was a transformative moment for the company, weaving their brand, seemingly forever, with the inspiring and dramatic physicality of sport.
"This was advertising transcending the product. Nike is not a design or a style. It's an idea. They own sport - its passion, its grit," said Mr Garfield.
"They use the same offshore factories and cheap materials as everybody else. But they represent the drama and passion of sport. They just own it."
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka ad Absolut Vodka created a new marke.
Like DeBeers, Absolut Vodka's advertising literally created a market where one did not exist.
In 1981, Absolut launched a campaign that would run for nearly three decades using simple ads with prominent images of their distinctive vodka bottle and plays on the word "absolute".
Before that, vodka had seldom been advertised and there was no premium vodka industry.
"Absolut turned a commodity into a badge brand," Mr Garfield said. "They did it on brand name and bottle shape. It was a remarkable visual campaign."
Mr Twitchell agrees.
"Vodka is a hard drink to separate on the basis of taste, so they separated their brand through narrative and package," he says.
These days, premium vodka is an enormous business. Brands like Grey Goose, Ketel One and Chopin owe much to Absolut's pioneering ads.
President Lyndon Johnson
Although aired just once, this chilling ad is considered one of the most effective US political history
American political advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry these days. Many campaigns have been highly effective, including Ronald Reagan's It's Morning in America campaign or the Republican "Willie Horton" attack ad against Michael Dukakis.
But few campaigns have been as memorable or as devastating as the Daisy ad.
It depicted a young girl playing innocently with a flower in a field. She looks up towards the sky and the camera zooms in on her eye and cuts to a shot of an atomic mushroom cloud.
An announcer urges Americans to vote for Lyndon Johnson because "the stakes are too high for you to stay home".
The ad was chilling and probably unfair, and it paved the way for the modern attack ad.
"It really showed that dirty advertising could produce clear results for the person who could do it well," said Mr Twitchell.
It was also pioneering in a different sense.
The ad was only played once as a paid advertisement by the Democratic National Committee. But it was so controversial it was shown numerous times on news programs and referred to in newspapers and magazines.
The ad was so good it got free publicity - a scenario many campaigns have tried to emulate, but few have actually managed.
Honourable mentions
Calvin Klein ad Calvin Klein continues to make racy ads
Apple's 1984 ad, directed by film legend Ridley Scott, was screened just once, but it imprinted Apple as what Mr Garfield calls "the heroic insurgent against the looming, evil, tyrannical information Big Brother, which at that point was IBM".
With Macintosh, Apple had created a revolutionary operating system, relying on a mouse and desktop icons. But the ad didn't show a glimpse of either. It simply branded Apple as smashing convention.
In 1980, 15-year-old Brooke Shields sparked controversy when she told audiences in a breathy whisper: "You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing."
The overt sexualization of a young girl in the service of Calvin Klein jeans outraged many Americans, but it also sparked a designer denim craze that persists to this day, and encouraged Calvin Klein to continue to produce racy, provocative ads for decades.
"It was the beginning of the shockervertising plague that befell the Western world for five years," Mr Garfield said ruefully. "Calvin Klein wasn't an advertiser as much as an arsonist."- BBC REPORT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)