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to July
June 30, 2003
A brand extension that goes beyond a company’s core business can be a way to
capitalize on its strengths -- or dissipate them. The two keys to success lie in whether
the brand extension fits the existing brand strengths, and whether the brand extension
fits the consumer’s perception of the brand. Here’s the link to the story in CBS
News MarketWatch:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
In tough economic times, companies are desperate to shore up revenues, in some cases by
selling their own brands down the river. However, extending the brand in stupid ways
ain’t innovation; it’s stupidity. And that’s true in good economic times as
well as bad.
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June 27, 2003
12:01 this morning marked the official launch of the national do-not-call list for
advertising telemarketers, paid for by telemarketing companies. Here’s the link to
the Reuters story:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Suddenly, direct mail is the only one-on-one mass-marketing option with any chance for
success in cold new-business solicitations to consumers. (Yes, spam email is also an
option, but not a good one.) Will this mean a rise in direct-response copywriting?
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June 26, 2003
A U.S. Supreme Court dismissal of Nike Inc. v. Kasky, means the free-speech issues
of corporate communication on matters of public debate remains unsettled, and is back in
the California State Supreme Court. The first link is a CBS News MarketWatch
report, and the second is the AP report via Newsday:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Advertising
copywriter blog link
In my April 23 blog entry, I said what I think about this case purely as an advertising
copywriter. Now, as it relates to copywriters and the companies that employ them, this
action leaves open the question as to what extent a corporate entity can
“editorialize” through its website, advertorials, spokespeople, and press
releases.
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June 25, 2003
Keeping abreast (ahem) of the latest award-winning beer commercials from the Cannes
International Advertising Festival, in the Hartford (CT) Courant:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Yup, not a buxom babe in the bunch. Just smart, funny commercials in which the
copywriter didn’t take the easy way out. See? It can be done.
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June 24, 2003
Congress debates an amendment to pending Medicare prescription-drug benefit legislation.
The amendment will essentially be a blanket creative brief on all direct-to-consumer drug
advertising. Here’s the link to the article in Ad Age:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Hmmm ... federally mandated “fair balance” in all ads, including equal time and space to side effects and comparable products. I liked what the sponsor of the amendment, Senator/Presidential Hopeful John Edwards (D-NC), had to say on the subject of advertising, but I would recommend a few tiny, tiny edits. How about this:
“Every time you turn on the TV, you get bombarded with
drugcandidate commercials that promise miracles. At a time whendrug pricesbudget deficits are skyrocketing, the last thing we need is bigdrug companiespolitical parties spending billions on misleading ads. We need to get criticalhealtheconomic information out of the fine print so thatconsumersvoters are informed.”
Ah, now that’s better. Or not.
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June 19, 2003
This bit of news from the Prague Post out of the Czech Republic tickles me in a
way. What happens when a bunch of film students launch a hoax advertising campaign for a
non-existent hypermart as a piece of public performance art?:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Well, one thing that happens, is they prove that film students aren’t necessarily
advertising people. Considering the scope of the advertising campaign and the value of the
offers being made (albeit in the interest of art, not commerce), only 1,000 people showed
up for the “grand opening.” A success for a piece of performance art, but a
dismal failure for an advertising campaign. Proof, in this copywriter’s point of
view, that advertising is the ultimate performance art.
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June 18, 2003
Branding Alaskan salmon to the tune of an $50 million “industry revitalization
strategy” that includes a $19 million advertising campaign. Here’s the article
in the Fairbanks (AK) Daily News-Miner:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
The fuzziness of the program (for instance, they haven’t yet determined who or
where their target audiences are yet) makes the cynic in me wonder: is the economic
recovery in the advertising industry (such as it is) being led by Government and
quasi-governmental spending?
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June 11, 2003
It’s about time someone did this! It’s “Camp Logo,” an advertising
summer camp for girls ages 14-19. Here’s the story in the San Antonio Business
Journal:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
One of the ways advertising has let down its own future, is in the lack of mentorship
opportunities, especially in the creative fields of copywriting and art direction. Okay,
granted that participation in “Camp Logo” is restricted by gender. But, any
advertising agency or organization that wants to do this can set up its own program with
its own rules. And, I can speak, because I’ve been running my own
advertising copywriter mentorship program for years.
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June 9, 2003
Two articles today about sexuality in advertising, the first from the Salt Lake Tribune
(Utah) and the second from The Independent (U.K.):
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Come on, folks. It’s about media placement. An advertising concept that may be
appropriate (and possibly ignored) in a targeted magazine may be controversial (and highly
noticed) as a billboard or prime-time television commercial. These marketing concepts
aren’t just about advertising; they’re also about publicity - for the clients and
the ad agencies.
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June 6, 2003
A serious look at advertising parodies, in the Globe and Mail:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Whether ad parodies are inside jobs or outside jobs, viral marketing or subviral
marketing, for the brand or against it, the key concept is that their very existence
reveals a good deal about what resonates with the public.
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June 5, 2003
Did Taco Bell steal the advertising concept of a talking Chihuahua? And, if it did, was
the concept worth $30.1 million? Here’s an Associated Press article from my home-town
newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
The concept of a talking Chihuahua for a Mexican fast food company is not so unique
that two separate creative teams working to the same creative brief might not have come up
with it simultaneously and independently. The difference, was that one team had a
contractual agency relationship, and the other team did not. And, while the staff
copywriters and art directors at TBWA-Chiat/Day are still cranking out concepts on salary,
the latter team is now potentially $30.1 million richer. Whether that award is justified
(by intentional corporate theft of intellectual property) or not, here is how this ruling
will affect my fellow freelance advertising copywriters and other outside consultants.
Corporate advertising and marketing executives will now be much warier of talking to
anyone outside of their existing network of creative relationships. It will become much
harder for outside creative teams to get in the door.
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June 4, 2003
An interesting look at truth in advertising - it’s tougher than one would think -
from the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
“Truth well-told” has been the slogan of the McCann-Erickson group of
advertising agencies since before it was McCann-Erickson. And, for an advertising
copywriter, it would be harder to find a better credo than that one.
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June 2, 2003
It appears I spoke too soon, back on March 15, on the success of generic Florida orange
juice advertising. It seems a few citrus growers want out - mostly those who sell to
branded companies, and mostly because the generic advertising budget is supported entirely
by a per-box tax they have to pay whether they benefit directly or not. Here’s the
link to the Associated Press article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:
Advertising
copywriter blog link
Generic category advertising benefits everyone in the category. However, I must say I’ve
never seen any generic Florida orange juice advertising recently. Perhaps that’s
because I live in California, as much a competitor to Florida citrus growers as Brazil.
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Backwards in time to May 2003
Main page | Consumer goods | Food services | Free red pen | Healthcare | Hospitality & tourism | Internet | Manufacturing | Packaged goods | Portfolio | Real estate & construction | Retail & restaurants | Service | Technology
Why should you hire me as your advertising copywriter? | FAQ
Advertising strategy and other lies
An advertising copywriter’s bookshelf:
recommended books
Brands and branding: a white paper
Do you make these mistakes in
advertising?
Free (yes, free) advertising copywriting
resources
Four ad copy traps that ensnare even
experienced copywriters
How to
become an advertising copywriter
How to write a brochure: advice from an advertising copywriter
How to write better ads
Long John Silver on writing ads
More career advice: what’s it like being
an advertising copywriter?
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part I: starting the enterprise
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part II: the entrepreneurial character
Napoleon’s advice to entrepreneurs,
Part III: growing the enterprise
The economy (and what to do about it)
The Tightwad
Marketing project
Advertising copywriting
mentorship
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Awards & honors | Curriculum vitae | Services
Phone and fax: (619) 465-6100
John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter
6877 Barker Way
San Diego, California
92119-1301