As a client, do you believe your creative agency is behaving all high and mighty? They knock you down with every feedback you have given them. They simply don’t listen and they just won’t do things your way.

In an interview with exchange4media, Richard Pinder, Regional Managing Director, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific had this to say:

“Clients by and large are pretty hopeless in making a difference in the creative process. Their products are fantastic and they are pretty famous but I think I will listen to the guy who gives me the creative advice. I am not saying that I am arrogant but the clients should listen to the agency, that’s why good agencies are rolling on.”

I do concede that some of us are arrogant but most of us simply want to get a great job done. And yes, there are times we do believe with all sincerity and honesty that we know more than the client, and that we are right. However, that does not mean we don’t listen. Ad agencies, design firms and even independent creative/copy folks do appreciate feedback and input from clients. Yet, we do get some inappropriate and even ridiculous instructions from our clients sometimes. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

Solomon Raju is a long-time reader of this blog. He has a deep passion for words and recently he has decided to go full time into professional copy-writing. In the past few months, he has gone through many ups and downs and he is sharing his thoughts here with us as my guest writer.

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How well known must a copywriter be to make clients consider you?

This thought strikes me often. I guess every copywriter who wants to be on his own- instead of working in an agency – will at sometime or other have such thoughts. Those lucky enough to have worked on big ticket accounts in an agency, may have an advantage; but without the glitter of the large agency, he or she can also lose the advantage. Given the clients’ propensity to be overwhelmed by the size or reputation of the agency (real or perceived), it’s always a question of having some well-heeled and glib-talking or suit clad marketing professionals to win you the big accounts. But if you take some time to analyze what is said, you’ll know if the person is worth his salt:

The work speaks… if you’ve the heart to listen. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

Some of you might not have seen or heard of this slogan but it is well known within the salt industry and the advertising world.

Number 9 in AdAge’s Top 10 Slogan of the 20th Century, this slogan lives on since 1914. That’s 93 years! The only slogan I knew that reigns longer than Morton Salt’s slogan is Maxwell’s “Good to the Last Drop”.

The famous Morton Umbrella Girl and slogan, “When it rains, it pours”� first appear on the blue package of table salt and in a series of Good Housekeeping magazine advertisements. The slogan is adapted from an old proverb, “It never rains but it pours”. The official website of Morton Salt said:

In 1911, Morton’s first advertising campaign for a series of ads in Good Housekeeping created the idea for the girl and her slogan, “When it Rains it Pours.”

One of the concepts presented to Morton was an image of Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

We are all familiar with the traditional modes of advertising - print, TV, Radio and of course, online. But this is a new twist for online advertising called Net Audio Ads.

Let me try to summarize what this is all about.

Most online advertising focuses on specific actions and are usually measured by pay per clicks or pay per lead. This has evolved over the short history of Internet Marketing. Generally, this is considered the most targeted and the best documented advertising media ever. You can hardly get such good statistics and such pin-point accuracy with any of the other medium of advertising.

Net Audio Ads seems like a throw back to the good old days of radio advertising. So, where is the twist? Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

A carefully crafted business slogan speaks volumes of it’s brand values and promises, successfully.

Disneyland - The Happiest Place on Earth. What was Walt Disney thinking when he opened Disneyland with this promise?

“To all who come to this happy place: welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past … and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts which have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”

- Walt Disney -
Dedication of Disneyland on July 17, 1955
Disneyland Town Square, Main Street, U.S.A.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 14% [?]

Once upon a time, the advertising agencies and the client enjoyed a long term relationship. The marriage can easily last for decades. Sadly, the fairy tale ending of “live happily ever after” is no more.

Nike shocked the advertising industry in March 2007 when it said adieu to Wieden & Kennedy, its founding creative partners of 20 years and author to it’s world-famous slogan, “Just Do It”.

In 2002, Heineken Brewery took its advertising away from Lowe Lintas, the agency that in one form or another has run it for the last 30 years. The move brought to an end one of the most enduring and creatively fertile relationships between a client and an agency that the business has seen.

Singapore Airline also abandoned its 35 years of relationship with Batey Ads earlier this year. Batey Ads is renowned for creating “Singapore Girl”, most probably the only world-recognized icon in Asia.

That’s from the client side, what about the advertising agency side of the story? Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

I have always maintained that sex sells in advertising. Still, I raised my eyebrows and grinned with great amusement when I first saw this business slogan. Imagine, a clean-cut, family oriented furniture mega store is using “sex” to sell it’s tables and chairs.

Just make a guess who has the cheek to shout it out loud and meant every word of it. Read the rest of this entry »

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This post was inspired by Laura Spencer’s The Art of Building Relationship on business blogging as well as the questions I’ve received since I’ve started to blog. Primarily, I was asked if it’s a worthwhile effort to keep a corporate blog as it takes lots of commitment and time to blog consistently. My answer is ‘yes’. Starting this blog has indeed been very rewarding. I had shared with my “Money and You” community recently that this Versa Creations’ blog has created a lot of value for me in many different ways:

1. more business opportunities to discuss, propose and quote on marketing and advertising projects
2. more business deals sealed
3. develop relationship-marketing by sharing my thoughts and experience
4. build trust and credibility
5. create corporate branding and give a human voice to the company, and in turn, building a personal branding for myself
6. provide a differentiator
7. gain higher visibility online
8. receive invitations to write for trade publications like Affliate KB and Marketing.
9. make more friends and develop contacts with people all over the world. (This is how I got to know Laura, a professional copywriter from the USA)
10. make residual income through text-link advertising

Still, most businesses and corporate companies don’t keep a corporate blog. Yet corporate blogs can be a hit with their customers. Some quick examples are Read the rest of this entry »

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