John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter

www.kuraoka.com
(619) 465-6100
Ad Blog: news and views about advertising, branding, marketing, and copywriting
March 2009

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March 31 2009
HP is launching MagCloud, a new web-based vanity press service for niche magazines. Here’s the story, from CRM Daily (Woodland Hills, CA):
Advertising copywriter blog link

For 20 cents a page, you too can be a magazine publisher. Which means that, should this service take off, we’re really looking at a renaissance of print, instead of the oft-bemoaned death of print.

Minor point, hardly worth mentioning: I also think there’s a demonstration of age-based isolationism in the journalism professor’s comment that the technology evokes the underground ’zines of the 60s and 70s. Um, there were underground ’zines in the 40s, 50s, 80s and 90s too; the professor just wasn’t in the target zone. (I actually own a few early 80s punk rags – we’re talking cheap photocopied sheets filled with urgency and typos, stapled together and mailed in an envelope to an audience of perhaps a few dozen.) Indeed, there are underground ’zines today, although many have moved to the web as a more-economical form of distribution.

Key snip, from the very end:

For H.P., MagCloud is also a way to provide customized service at low risk. And if the niche does not thrive, the company will simply move on. “We are trying to experiment with these new types of business models,” Mr. Bolwell [head of the MagCloud project at HP] said.

Whether it thrives or dives, I think it’s significant that HP is even launching this service, because it shows faith in print as a medium for the exchange of ideas.
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March 30 2009
With all the buzz about online marketing, it’s refreshing to see something thoughtful in the traditional alternative media arena. Here’s a great out-of-home campaign for The School of Visual Arts (NY), from Media Life Magazine:
Advertising copywriter blog link

Cool stuff! It takes a certain amount of imagination to make the leap from the “Think” tagline to the lined paper as a thinking tool, but that gap is what makes the campaign engaging. That, and the omnipresence of it, if it was indeed as omnipresent as I’d like to think it should have been.

Those with long memories might remember that “Think” was IBM’s line for a long, long time, which is what made Apple’s “Think Different” line so richly resonant.
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March 27 2009
Automaker GM has already publicly identified Saturn as a brand on the brink of extinction, but Saturn’s ads are pitching longevity. Here’s the story, from Time magazine:
Advertising copywriter blog link

This is the kind of conceptual disconnect that happens when the real world gets ahead of ad campaigns, or when ad campaigns lag behind the real world. Of course, everyone knows the ads are almost ironically optimistic, but that may not have been the case when they were created and approved.

Here’s another case of the real world outpacing the ad campaign, this time Microsoft’s effort to hit Apple on price, from E-Commerce News
Advertising copywriter blog link

This would have been a timely approach just three weeks ago, right before the market resurgence. It may be timely again in a few days or weeks. But, as it is, it’s a misfire, less for the message as for the precise timing of it.

Of course, Microsoft has deep pockets, and can afford to run this ad campaign long enough that it may outlast the current mini-bull market and become relevant again. But it won’t get press at that later date. The initial fire of a new campaign was, unfortunately, lost. And, as various people point out, the price thing may not be the most sustainable brand characteristic for Microsoft anyway, especially since you can get Linux and OpenOffice.org as open-source software for free.

It seems advertising creatives have to learn the same thing as other investment advisors: you can’t time the market.
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March 26 2009
Twitter plans to roll out some business-oriented applications, for which it will charge. Here’s a good analytical look at what may be coming, from CRM Daily (Woodland Hills, CA):
Advertising copywriter blog link

I think this is exciting. Not for me, personally, but for my clients, who may get ways to peer deeper into their Twitter-based traffic. Right now, the data is clumpy; you have this many followers, your website log files show this many visitors arriving through Twitter. But other than raw numbers, you don’t know anything about those people, despite Twitter being fundamentally a social platform, which makes it difficult to act. On a small scale (such as with my own Twitter account, @kuraoka), one can study each follower individually, including the people connected to that person. From that, you can start pulling some data points that get pretty deep into belief sets and even financial status. But the pool itself remains relatively small. What’ll be interesting, is how this data is aggregated and used on a corporate level.
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March 25 2009
Humor in advertising is as strong as ever despite, or perhaps because of, the generally depressed economy. Here’s a look at how to manage humor in ad creative with a deft, effective touch, from Entrepreneur via MSNBC.com:
Advertising copywriter blog link

The bit that’s absolutely essential to understand, is that an ad is not a joke or a gag. It’s an ad. So the humor – or whatever tactic one chooses – has to emerge organically from the situation, the product, and the brand. Wannabe comedy writers often produce gag ads that are hilarious ... but forgettable and poor salesmanship to boot. Ads must never be forgettable or poor salesmanship. And, as for the viral component, I would say that reach and frequency, to use old school terms, don’t always equal impact.

I love Linda Kaplan Thaler’s quote from a former boss, which the article author was savvy enough to use as the stinger: “Throw a pie in their face, but make sure you're selling them the whipped cream afterward.”
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March 24 2009
This article, from Business Week Online via CRM Daily (Woodland Hills, CA) looks at the recession, pricing pressures, and a few key business categories::
Advertising copywriter blog link

Ya know, not everything can be blamed on the recession. Pricing transparency was a major issue long before the first winds of recession began. The same goes for the commoditization of home electronics and the downward pricing pressure on PCs. Absolutely nothing here can be blamed on (or credited to) the economic meltdown, with the exception of boomers being jolted out of their financial complacency.

Just watch: if the current stock market turnaround proves temporarily lasting (how’s that for an oxymoron), look for a massive rise in retail spending when the March/April numbers come in. In the U.S. we’ve had more than two centuries of believing in a growing economy; it’s embedded in our national DNA. There’s just no way the past five or six months have completely erased that sense of entitled optimism.

Situations change. Marketing tools change. Communication channels change. But human nature remains the same.

That’s not a bad thing, mind you. If it weren’t for being able to count on human nature, we’d have to relearn everything about marketing and advertising every time something new came along.

Speaking of new stuff, this came across my desk from one of the many e-mail lists I subscribe to in an effort to wrap my brain around what’s going on. It’s a nifty report on social media marketing, from Michael A. Stelzner (who also lives in San Diego, my hometown). Download his Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It’s definitely worth a read – and really read it, don’t just skim the summaries, because there are high-value nuggets to be gleaned in crunching and cross-crunching the data.
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March 23 2009
How do you launch a $2,000 car? With tight controls on ad spending and extensive use of viral and social media marketing. Here’s the story about the (somewhat delayed) launch of the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest new car, from the Business Standard (India):
Advertising copywriter blog link

With a $2K car, the profit margin is pretty slim. So there’s no big TV buy, no big press event. What there has been, though, has been a well-managed groundswell of PR lasting at least a year (which, by the way, had to deal with the forced closure of a factory due to local protests), combined with hip branded tchotchkes and web-based marketing. Oh, and a big piece of luck: a global economic meltdown that has the Tata company considering a U.S. rollout, where the Nano would probably join the Yugo on the short list of New Cars Costing About The Same As A 12-Year-Old Toyota Corolla, But Not Being Nearly As Good. But, in places where there are no 12-year-old Toyota Corollas, and that includes a fair chunk of the world, the competitive market is wide open.

What with Detroit so regularly getting it wrong when it turns to new media, it’s kind of cool to see a brash new player getting it right.
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March 20 2009
My Twitter feed turned up this awesome ebook by Bob Hoffman, CEO of San Francisco ad agency Hoffman|Lewis, in a tweet by @michaelgass::
Advertising copywriter blog link

Download it and read it this weekend. Or this evening. It won’t take long. I read it, then killed some trees printing it out so that I could have it forever and highlight passages, dog-ear pages, and scrawl marginal notes augmenting or arguing with the author’s points. It contains some of the best things I’ve ever seen written about advertising.

When you’re finished with the book you’ll also appreciate the irony of my discovering it through Twitter, but that’s another story.
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March 19 2009
Some new research into online advertising and which appeals attract the most clicks turned up some interesting results. Here’s the story, from Netimperative (London, UK):
Advertising copywriter blog link

I have a medium-sized issue with the fact that this was a survey. As we’ve seen many, many times before, there’s a fundamental disconnect between what people say they’ll do, and what they’ll do. I don’t think surveys are entirely trustworthy as predictors of behaviors. Furthermore, the last three benefit categories, entertainment, exclusive and new information, and enhancing the online experience could all be bundled under the first two categories of relevance and usefulness.

But, surveys can indicate trends of social thinking. For instance, I think it’s a useful, if broad, snippet of information that relevance and usefulness trump money saving, although I wonder what time period was studied. I also think it’s interesting that online ads that automatically launch video or audio are significantly less likely to be clicked on than a static banner ad. That goes against years of retail floor sales research, but that may be the wrong model to use online. That buried data point is more than mildly interesting; if it’s supported by behavioral research in the wild, it could indicate a major shift in – or, just as likely, more and more-accurate research into – user-media engagement points.
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March 18 2009
Another quickie today. Time, Inc. is experimenting with a made-to-order magazine. Here’s the story, from the Associated Press via MSNBC.com:
Advertising copywriter blog link

I went and registered for the print version; I’m always up to be a media guinea pig. Right off, I was disappointed with the selection of magazines. Come on, 56 combinations sounds a lot better than pick five of eight. I chose Money and Time, making the best of a limited selection, so it became pick three of six. I’m not interested in sports or golf, so that made it three of four. Now I have to choose three more lifestyle magazines in declining order of unattractiveness. I grudgingly made my picks, but Lexus, the sponsor of this effort, isn’t going to learn anything about me from them because three of the five titles were irrelevant to my life, my lifestyle, and my values. Misfire!

This needed a lot more depth of choice to capture metrics that would do any good downstream. The idea of generating a personally customized Reader’s Digest is an intriguing one, but the weak implementation makes this effort all but useless.
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March 17 2009
I have a quickie for today. A media analyst has studied the MySpace-Google partnership, and has come to the conclusion that Google doesn’t understand social networking despite the apparent threat. Here’s the story, from MediaWeek:
Advertising copywriter blog link

If it’s true, then I find it interesting that Google has done little or nothing to improve its social network search algorithms, but the search giant has stumbled before. The question is, who’s right? If social networking is, after all is said and done, just a bunch of individual portals to the web like the old AOL or CompuServe (remember CompuServe?) or even Yahoo, then Google may actually have little to fear. If social networking is, after all is said and done, an alternative web, then Google has a problem if it doesn’t address it well.

But, either way, all is not said and done, and therein lies the challenge.
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March 16 2009
Staffers from the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News in Colorado are putting together a subscription-supported online news channel. Here’s the story, from the (free) local ABC News affiliate, TheDenverChannel.com:
Advertising copywriter blog link

Okay, if these guys knew how to run a news channel profitably, they’d still be in business. Well, sorta. But they’re not businesspeople, they’re journalists and editors. And yes, quality content sells. Unfortunately, they seem to be ignoring the reality of the last ten years in media.

The BBC News site is free. Heck, you can get content from The Wall Street Journal for free. You can’t say those sources aren’t providing quality coverage. So what’s the hook? I was really hoping for something fresh, or at least a stronger version of hyperlocal reporting to be the hook here. As it is, it’s the same old thing at $4.99/month.

I did a bit of digging. Very little, because I’m a copywriter, not a statistician, and I have projects to attend to. I found that the population of Denver is over half a million, but that figure includes more than 100,000 people below the age of 18. So, to get their 50,000 paying subscribers, they need to sign up more than 10% of the adult population. Um. Hmmm.

Let’s slice it another way. There are about 135,000 households in Denver with incomes near or above the local median of $39,500 per year. Okay, to get 50,000 paying subscribers, they need to capture about 37% of that to have a chance at sustainability. Well over a third. Nearly two-fifths Yikes!

And, to achieve these lofty goals, their marketing budget is, as yet, unstated.

I’m not saying it’s impossible. In fact, my heart is pulling for these people. The media landscape would get more interesting if they successfully rolled out a news model in which content providers actually get paid directly by content users (although that would tend to create more media bias instead of less, along with a balkanization of information, but that’s an argument for another day). But, without a plan in place beyond encouraging “a bold, creative effort to continue a vision based on a 150-year Denver tradition,” I just don’t see it.
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March 13 2009
Diverging views on the radio jingle, from BBC News Magazine:
Advertising copywriter blog link

There’s often a lot of talk about the “look and feel” of a brand. But what about the brand “sound?” I believe the look and sound – the sound being both external and internalized audio including copy tone – work together to create the brand feel.

The jingle is underused and overlooked today, in favor of the ease and “instant recognition” of using existing pop tracks. Unfortunately, that instant recognition comes with a huge price beyond mere royalties: zero brand recognition. I’ve always called jingles auditory branding, and that’s exactly what they are when they’re used right. Their sheer persistence proves their worth.

Unfortunately, it looks like radio is bearing the brunt of the advertising recession, with radio buys being slashed in favor of TV and online. Which brings up another point: the presence of a visual – moving or static – by no means detracts from the power of audio branding. Jingles could be powerfully deployed across multiple media channels and spaces, by those marketers with the insight to see beyond what everyone else is doing.
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March 12 2009
File this under: “Hey! Advertising works!” A recent study finds a correlation between bank TV advertising and growth. Here’s the story, from Advertising Age:
Advertising copywriter blog link

Yes, the effect is more one of correlation than causation, but on which side of it do you want to be?

I think this is especially trenchant right now, because bank customers have never in our lifetimes been more volatile. They’re looking at headlines about Citigroup and Bank of America, they’re watching their portfolios lurch and grind, and they’re more open to the idea of changing banks than they ever have been. This is a huge, huge opportunity for banks and credit unions to take deposits and market share.

But I think the media opportunity, moving forward, probably lies in using a combination of TV and social media to create what is essentially a collaborative marketing effort.
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March 11 2009
As more and more retailers struggle and close down, one Woolworth’ is roaring back to main street. Here’s the story of the grand opening of Wellworth’s in Dorset, from BBC News:
Advertising copywriter blog link

Never mind about the savvy of opening up a discount store at a time when only discount stores are holding steady, the name Wellworth’s is simply inspired. It leverages a ready-made positive brand reputation, and gives it additional literal meaning. As a brand name for a recession-era retailer, it’s perfect.

By the way, the name emerged, not from a high-priced branding consultant, but from an informal brainstorming session that included the property landlord, who’s credited with coming up with the name. Still, if brand consultants were involved and all they did was steer the company toward that name, then their service was, um, well worth every penny (or pence) they were paid.

Also notable: the store, which was originally a Woolworth’s and is now staffed with many former employees, always turned a profit. It was sunk by problems at the corporate level, not its own performance, something that may be true of many over-expanded retailers (think Mervyn’s, for instance, or Circuit City). Could this augur the rise of independent retailers? Certainly, technology has nibbled away at the edge in cost-efficiency previously gained only through sheer size, and customers are more willing to shop close to home. And, if so, how will these brands be positioned to weather the good times?
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March 10 2009
Here’s a quick look at how companies are using social media, from BusinessWeek via CRM Daily (Woodland Hills, CA):
Advertising copywriter blog link

And this is where a lot of companies and marketing gurus are getting it wrong: the brand has always been in the hands of the consumer, and the brand experience has always been a one-on-one event. Those realities have not changed. If you start with the premise that oooo, you’re going to interactively extend the brand gestalt down to the consumer level, you’re not only practically bound to be patronizing, but you’re also probably reinventing the wheel.

Obviously, though, something has changed; what is it? What changed, is that now the consumer has communication tools equal to and in some ways greater than those of the advertisers. Yet advertisers are still seeking a way to “exploit” social media, as if it belongs to them, or should.

Right now, I think the value for brands and advertisers can be found in listening more than participating. And, if you participate, it must take the form of a dialog and not as a monolog, which automatically limits the extent to which one can engage in a meaningful way.

So, as the chocolate-maker lamented, how do you have a conversation with 11 million people? The answer: you advertise, and if your advertising is any good, it engages people one on one. Heck, nearly 100 years ago Shirley Polykoff defined ad copy as a “direct conversation with the customer.”

Key snip, at the very end:

Early adopters such as Guy Stephens, knowledge engineer for Carphone Warehouse, describe it (social media) as just another tool that a brand might use to engage with customers. “Understanding what motivates your customer and trying to meet that need is still key, regardless of whether you use Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, or pick up the phone.”

Or advertise.
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March 9 2009
Meanwhile, back at the newspapers, survival is forcing strange evolutionary adaptations on the parts of many print media channels. Here are a few online tactics currently being tried, from BusinessWeek via MSNBC.com:
Advertising copywriter blog link

The Bakersfield Californian may have the right strategic approach: push online content into print instead of trying to go the other way. So far, it’s working: the print magazine compilation of online reviews actually makes money for the newspaper. Key snip: “Even though there’s an ad recession, it doesn’t mean there’re no more ads.”

One dangerous thing for fellow freelance writers (and art directors and designers too) is the emerging concept of eliminating staff content creators and substituting a cloud of freelancers. One major freelance community serves newspaper editors. It has 423,000 writers on call, who write articles on requested topics entirely on spec. Its top writer earned $5,000 last year.

That model will produce cost savings, if all you need is coherent information, but it will also produce an inevitable decline in creativity, branding, and strategic planning. With marketing budgets being slashed, those three areas represent some of the best competitive edges an advertiser can bring to bear. The beauty part is, it costs no more to produce a powerful, convincing ad or brochure, than a weak one. In fact, the weak one continues to cost as it rolls out, while the strong one begins to pay dividends in qualified leads, profitable sales, and increased market share.
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March 7 2009
Speaking of Twitter, I’m trying to shift the focus of mine (@kuraoka) to be more business-oriented and less family-oriented:
Advertising copywriter blog link

As I’ve explored, I’ve found it to be on one level an easy way to aggregate information and, perhaps more important, sensibilities. That’s why I’m also spinning off a couple other Twitter IDs to be more personal in nature - because once one focuses on business one can lose focus on people. And the strength of Twitter, as with any social medium, lies in connecting on a personal level.

On the other hand, I’m also finding that the pond has already become somewhat polluted by advertisers and blatant networkers.
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March 6 2009
Twitter is the hot brand du jour in social media. So, how does this play out? Here’s an interesting take on Twitter, Facebook, and Google, from ABC News:
Advertising copywriter blog link

It’s notable that Alex Bogusky, having played with Twitter since mid-December, announced in a buh-bye tweet yesterday that it’s “just not for him.” As the article points out, “Twitter is a tool for people in the audience, not on stage;” in other words, its usefulness is rather limited and perhaps even a distraction to a major performer but the groundlings find it very useful and amusing indeed. Me, I’m much more of a groundling than an on-stage artiste (and proud of it, by the way; that’s what keeps me close to what works for my own clients). I find it a useful aggregator of sensibilities and a fascinating channel. As with a crowded room, I get more by listening than by talking.

Now that Facebook has changed to emulate Twitter, and Twitter is looking at ways to serve ads within tweets, and Google is circling, I wonder if perhaps Twitter is one more brand on its way to becoming too big for its own good? Or, is the vision almost infinitely scalable?
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March 5 2009
Retail results for February are in, and they’re a mixed bag. Here’s the story, from MarketWatch:
Advertising copywriter blog link

I like looking at retail results because they represent the culmination of all our efforts in marketing and advertising, along with everything else. That “everything else” bit is why I think Wal-Mart has come on so strong. But I haven’t seen them come on equally strong with any branding beyond the same old discount, discount, discount message. That’s why Target may be better positioned for the long term. At a certain point, people are going to want their savings with a side of style, and cheap chic has long been Target’s brand position. The better-than-expected performance of retailers like Kohl’s and JC Penney, pushing a mix of home-grown branded merchandise, and the likes of TJ Maxx and Ross stores, flogging well-known brands at a discount, supports that idea.

Actually, the more interesting thing about Wal-Mart has been its subtle, slow movement toward sustainable sourcing and greener corporate behavior. Now that could be an ownable brand position, but they’re not there yet and they know it.
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March 4 2009
Toy retailer Toy“R”Us just paid $5 million for the domain name “toys.com.” Here’s the story, from BBC News:
Advertising copywriter blog link

It’ll be interesting to see what the company’s strategy is. $5 million is a lot to pay merely as a defensive move – locking up the URL so no one else can use it against them. Also, $5 million would pay for a lot of marketing aimed at boosting the profile of the existing branded web address.

It strikes me that this acquisition, if deployed aggressively, will end up diluting or diminishing the existing brand. Which do you promote, Toy“R”Us or toys.com? Also, what ways to use the channel could be deployed across toys.com but not toysrus.com? Also, didn’t they buy eToys just last month? All these questions lead me to the notion that Toy“R”Us may be doing nothing more than buying traffic.

This domain name acquisition is by no means a move that possesses a strategic savvy that’s immediately apparent; if anything, it looks a bit dumb to me just now. On a branding level, it’s a little as if GM took this moment to resurrect Geo as a separate brand. The last thing a company needs is another brand to build and maintain, especially if that new brand is merely on par with existing brands in the corporate stable. But, as I said, it will very interesting to see what the company does with its new property.
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March 3 2009
Back on February 5 I mentioned a study out of NYU that seemed to prove that people enjoyed television shows more with commercial breaks. Now, here’s more about that study and its result, from The New York Times via my hometown San Diego Union-Tribune (CA):
Advertising copywriter blog link

San Diego is connected to the study through one of the co-authors of the research paper, an assistant marketing professor from UCSD. Yay!

It’s interesting to compare a commercial interruption with a viewer-controlled interruption such as making a phone call or talking to the other person in the room. According to the study, both serve similar a similar purpose as it relates to enjoyment of the TV show.

Also, the study showed that interruption-heightened pleasure applied to tangible goodies like a massage. Well, I think there are probably limits to that, but there you go, that’s what the study says.

Of course, most people said they preferred commercial-free TV, even though their enjoyment ratings showed otherwise. This highlights the difference between what people say and what they do, which is frequently a problem when trying to apply research results to real-world practices.

The study looked at enjoyment, not retention. So, whether this has implications for advertising creative (for example, breaking up an ad into three sections, the first two connecting and the middle one interrupting) remains up in the air.

Although, come to think of it, I’ve used that approach on radio, and it might be very interesting in print.
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March 2 2009
Does the recession necessarily mean a decline in brand loyalty? Not necessarily, says this article in CRM Daily (Woodland Hills, CA):
Advertising copywriter blog link

The article focuses on CRM as a tool for staying in close contact with customers, potential customers, and vendors. But if you want to get aggressive about expanding market share, and now is the time to do that, you still have to push fresh leads into the machine. For that, you need external marketing, such as advertising; you can’t just sit back and rely on internal resources like highly intelligent data mining and CRM to produce a constant flow of new customers.

In the B-to-B world, I agree that loyalty might not automatically go out the window, but reduced budgets will turn some graduated choices into binary ones. That’s why it’s more important than ever to maintain a strong, cohesive presence in the marketplace through communication that commands attention and compels action.
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Backwards in time to February 2009

My experience as a copywriter.

Email me.

Call or fax me.

Phone and fax: (619) 465-6100

Write me.

John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter
6877 Barker Way
San Diego, California
92119-1301

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John Kuraoka, freelance advertising copywriter

www.kuraoka.com (619) 465-6100 Ad Blog: news and views about advertising, branding, marketing, and copywriting March 2009

My experience as a copywriter.

Answers to frequently asked questions.

Advertising & marketing advice.

Me, me, me.

Email me.

Call or fax me.

Write me.

www.kuraoka.com
(619) 465-6100
Ad Blog: news and views about advertising, branding, marketing, and copywriting
March 2009