Ethics in Advertising

No, no, no. That's not a contradiction in terms!
Although I'll be the first to admit that ethics are a tad less than obligatory in political advertising, in fact, the most successful political ad campaigns avoid them altogether. But what works in political advertising, doesn't work so well with any products or services that people can touch, judge and experience immediately for themselves.
Lying in politics, however, is such a time-honored tradition that Plato spoke of it as necessary to diplomacy. Today, lying politicians are the bread and butter of comedy. Stand-up comics could not exist without them. 
Why do politicians envy ventriloquists?
    They can lie without moving their lips.
What do you call a politician who swears to tell the truth?
    A liar.
How can you tell when a politician is lying?
    His lips are moving.
The list goes on.
But something remarkable happened Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Two remarkably well marketed bundles of bamboozlery bombed at the polling booths.  Propositions 16 & 17, two corporate exercises in corporate greed, deception, half-truths, mistruths and home-spun charm, crashed and burned on impact.

Or as Greg Pruett, senior vice president of corporate affairs for PG&E reportedly explained in an article on baycitizen.org "While the election outcome hasn’t diminished our steadfast belief that citizens should have a vote in local government efforts to enter the electric utility business, we respect the decision voters made on this initiative." He failed to add that this initiative would have taken the right to majority rule away from those voters.  Ironically, if PG&E had been able to play by the rules they were pushing, their 47.5 percent of the vote would have been enough to stifle the majority’s will. Too bad.  So sad.
Surprisingly the effort that brought the $46 million PG&E juggernaut to its knees accomplished that miracle with a budget of barely $100,000. Similarly, the Mercury Insurance $16 million, attempt to reverse a 1988 consumer protection law, and allow them to manipulate premiums, was defeated with a tiny fraction of their bloated budget. So where did the corporations go wrong, or more importantly, where did the opposition go right?
First it seems the corporate troops went about a lie too far. They each used fake names, tried to hide behind populist rhetoric that they didn’t really understand, spent money like water or Meg Whitman (but I repeat myself). Then inexplicably, they defended their true goals openly in corporate stockholder documents accessible on the web. The opposition only had to point that out and make the truth even easier to find… not all that difficult in the digital “click-here” age. So even though voters (consumers) couldn’t actually touch, judge or experience products (arguments) with their own two hands, the bare facts were all-too-easy to find.
Lying is advertising is always a bad idea. That’s especially true if you have a product, and people are using it. There’s probably a reason they like it.  Which means there’s enough good to say about it, that you don’t have to lie. If you don’t believe me, ask your happier customers. And if you still feel like you have to lie, be sure to give some friends or family a box or two of crayons and construction paper to make your “Going Out of Business Sale” signs. Your competition, their customers and their lawyers will be only too happy to help.
Ethics is advertising is just good business. And... sometimes, not a bad idea in politics either.

FINALLY! Voters Will Have to Pay for their Own Laziness!

I love it when election marketers devise a whole new way to bamboozle the public, and California voters, no slouches in the overall bamboozle market, finally have a chance to actually pay for their ignorance and sloth personally, out of their own wallets. If successful, PG and E’s campaign to stifle competition could be an unparalleled accomplishment. That is truly saying something, because this has been a year of unprecedented babmoozlery, from the Birthers “victory” in Arizona (Damn You Hawaii) to California’s own multimillion campaign to pass Proposition 8 which defeated homosexuals right to marry because it would inexplicably destroy the fabric of the American family.  Perhaps Lewis Black was right, and it would have unleashed attacks of Gay Banditos. But I digress.

Who is it that could possibly surpass these dizzying heights in inveiglery and babmoozlery?  None other than Pacific Gas and Electric.  Pardon me, I meant the “Taxpayers Right To Vote, Yes on 16.”  You’ve seen their ads daily on the TV, and don’t they have a sexy website?

But take a look at that tiny type at the bottom.  You know in all my time in advertising, I have NEVER had a client say to me, “can you make my name smaller, bordering on invisible? And while you’re at it, hide my logo altogether. The logo is forbidden!” Especially when they’re forking over $28.5 million (as of March 26). Nope.  Never happened.  Not once.  If I were a cynical person (and I most assuredly am), I might presume that Pacific Gas and Electric had something to hide. Although in fairness, they are not hiding it from their shareholders for whom they defended their multimillion dollar campaign: “this is a good use of PG and E funds because otherwise, the company would have to spend ‘millions and millions of shareholder dollars to defend it repeatedly’ every time a municipality is thinking about going the CCA route. PG and E fights against municipalities forming CCAs because when local government agencies form their own local utility districts, PG and E loses customers, thus cutting into the corporation's long-term profitability.*” 

While I applaud any company that feels that $1.22 billion profit in 2009 must be surpassed, I am amused that they are going to voters to vote against the very competition that would save the voters money.  Of course they’re not really doing that.  Competition is the American way, and voting against competition could be construed as UNAmerican.  No, the good patriots of Pacific Gas and Electric are merely arguing that before their 1.22 billion dollar dominance of the market can be subject to competition, that an election must be held at taxpayer expense and an almost unheard of two thirds majority must approve it.  But I repeat myself.

The fact that the right to vote is protected in the Constitution notwithstanding, there is nothing in this act that protects anyone but Pacific Gas and Electric, and they’re willing to spend up to $35 million dollars to do it. But who will really pay for this competition busting sham election… the very same voters who don’t ask questions, don’t research the PG and E connection and actually fall for the flimsy “personal freedom” argument. Not all of the voters will fall for it, just the lazy ones.  In other words, if history is any guide, the majority.  So get ready for less competition and higher rates from fewer providers. 

Of course, if voters are unwilling to find out what they're voting about, maybe this will become the new American way.

Ready, Set, Recovery! We're pointing the way.

Pasadena Advertising Marketing and Design (P-AMD) has been selected to create a new print, web and social networking campaign for the Foothill Workforce Investment Board (FWIB). FWIB provides workforce services that are invaluable in any economy and absolutely vital in today’s precarious environment. They offer a one-of-a-kind, employment lifeline that connects both sides of the workforce to what they need the most – for FREE. Until now, they have gone largely unnoticed by both the employers struggling to keep their businesses afloat, and by the great majority of unemployed desperate to find the right job. 

This is a dream project for us, because the concept essentially sells itself. Everyone wants it; everyone needs it, and it is vital to the community and the economy as a whole. The only fundamental element lacking is awareness. If prospective employees don’t know that the keys to a better life are at their fingertips, they can’t ask for them. If business owners and managers don’t know they have access to essential business survival skills and to an unparalleled pool of highly qualified talent, they can’t use them. That all of this is free isn’t even an issue. Awareness is the key, not just for now but for the long term.

As a part of this coming year’s campaign, P-AMD will create and develop a new website for the Foothill Workforce Investment Board designed to reinforce their overall marketing plan. The site will be the center of a hub of social networking sites that appeals to employers, talented potential employees, city governments, business improvement districts and chambers of commerce that stretch from Duarte to South Pasadena. 

This is not only an exciting project for all of us at P-AMD to undertake but a vital step in the revitalization of our region. A wave of recovery is coming. Nobody can tell when, but the signs are everywhere. However, the job seekers and employers of Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and South Pasadena have to be ready for the wave when it arrives if they hope to ride it. If they jump on it too early or wait too long, they’ll miss it, and recovery and prosperity could be lost altogether. 

Job seekers need to know not only how to get “a” job, but get “the” job they want and can do the best. Employers need to know that there is a viable resource, in their own backyard, where they can find sound business advice and a pool of local, highly qualified applicants at no charge. 

That is now our task, and we can hardly wait to get started.

Pardon me while I rant about our schools

Yet another battle for Pasadena Schools.  Call it Measure CC, or the Pasadena Unified School District Parcel Tax, this is about more than just education or taxes or how wasteful or stingy our school administrators are.  Detractors make it sound like the argument is all about waste (although that waste was not apparent to the outside management audit commissioned by the cities of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre). And if it were all about waste, certainly these concerned citizens would roll up their sleeves, volunteer in the district and eliminate that waste.  But it’s not; they won’t, and I don’t want to waste ink.

No, measure CC is about community, and this community in particular.  Pasadena has a long history of doing things our way.  Making our own goals, raising our own funds and yes, rolling up our own sleeves to get things done.  Even Measure CC’s most ardent detractors have to admit our schools are improving. They say it’s because we’re following the State’s lead, which is laughable on so many different levels. It’s because Pasadena parents fought long and hard to make them better!

Pasadenans won’t be told what we can and can’t do. When there’s an emergency we respond. When we’re told something is impossible, we do it anyway. In the ‘90’s when our libraries were in jeopardy, and in danger of closing, we rose up, taxed ourselves and kept them open.  When Old Pasadena had fallen into decay so dire that you couldn’t walk down the street alone. Recovery was “impossible,” so we cantankerous band of business people got together and, yes, taxed ourselves to make things better. Anybody been to Old Pasadena lately?  Even in this economy, the shops are lively; the streets and alleyways are clean and safe, and family fun can be found around every corner within our twenty-two block district.

If the whiners about waste really want to help, come on down.  Everyone willing to roll up their sleeves and fix what’s broken is always welcome. However, until that unlikely day, here’s a reality check.  Some things are worth working for.  Some things are worth paying for. And our children and our future? There are two of them. 

When is Free Advertising Worthless?

In a word, never.

In fact, Word-of-Mouth (WOM) advertising is the most valuable kind of advertising, and it doesn’t cost a cent. That said, there are companies that spend millions in PR and social marketing trying to generate it. They have to, because bad word-of-mouth will kill a bad product or even the company that makes it. Think about the last movie campaign you saw. Previews in the theaters. Ads on TV. But if your best bud Ben says the movie sucked, you’ll avoid it like the plague. Hence movies can do millions on the first weekend and die the next.

Mom and pop businesses generally don’t have millions to spend on those kinds of campaigns, so they just struggle along providing good products, outstanding service, and great customer care. That’s how they generate word of mouth, and that’s a good thing. But they need more. They need basic, tell-prospective-customers-you-exist advertising. An invitation to the party if you will. If you don’t invite people to come, there won’t be any mouths to say a good word for you.

Which brings me back to the question of when is free advertising worthless. And to some people the answer can be “always.”  Never and Always? How can that be?  The answer is perception.  Whenever a merchant thinks advertising is worthless, it is. Perception is reality.

Old Pasadena Management District (OPMD) offers its merchants thousands of dollars in advertising exposure for free. Not only does OPMD hold regular events to bring customers into the district, they send out newsletters and flyers informing merchants of  what is happening, when it is happening, where it is happening, and even how they can benefit from it.  But they don’t stop there.  OPMD has a website that attracts tens of thousands of visitors, and our merchants are listed on the site for free.  They can describe their business, their hours, their directions, their specials, and a link to their OWN website, for Free!  Even if they don’t have a website of their own, OPMD will give them a page which can display their logo and photos of their businesses. Did I mention it was for free?

So why would anyone in their right mind ignore thousands of dollars worth of free advertising? More than likely, it is exactly because it’s free. Free has no worth. It takes time and trouble to send in information, take pictures, create special offers, write down hours, and why take valuable time for something that has no worth. They don’t see any reason to use it, and probably never will use it.

A case in point of perception.  Last year, OPMD reacted to the depressed economy and drop in charitable donations with a first ever Restaurant Week Event.  All of the participating restaurants were asked to create Restaurant Week specials, post their menus on the OPMD site for free, and feature the free Restaurant Week Posters in their windows and the “Special” menus at their entrances and on their tables. Those that did saw immediate increases in business.  Business at Le Grand Orange and Elements Café nearly doubled! However, there were participating restaurants that failed to create specials, didn’t post their menus online or feature the menus or posters in their establishments. Most of them saw a drop in business.  Go figure.

I think the perception of “free” as “worthless” did them in.  However, this year our track record of success may well change that perception, and I fully expect participants will take note of what worked and what didn’t. Actually their perception of “free advertising” may not change, but the “simple equation for a profitable outcome” will certainly override any misgivings they might have.

So, in retrospect, maybe the answer to the question, “When is free advertising worthless,” is: whenever you don’t take advantage of it.

The Branding PowerPoint (as requested)

After a very well received Branding and Positioning seminar in South Pasadena, we are posting the Powerpoint presentation. It is little more than a slide show for those who like a little side of tongue in cheek with their information. However, when I posted this on Youtube, I received a little criticism about the lack of sound. For those of you who attended the presentation (and their friends), this first video is for you... quiet though it might be.




However, I felt absolutely horrible that anyone could have felt so cheated by the lack of sound in the presentation. So I recreated it with the help of my very good friend* Boots Randolf. Please enjoy the "sound."  :-)




Who ever said Branding and Positioning can't be fun?

*Never actually met my good friend Boots Randalf, but I love him (and Yakety Sax) all the same.

BRANDING A SMALL BUSINESS

Suzanne Marks, Pasadena Advertising’s comely CEO, just gave a seminar on "Branding" to the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.  The audience members, by and large, were small business owners. They were concerned that since the big stores spend so much money on branding, they had better learn about it too.  However, branding and positioning efforts (for those who like semantic hair splitting) are usually reserved for large, impersonal corporations.  Branding is what gives the company a face: a personal connection that clients and customers can hold onto.

The business owners’ concern is understandable, as John Costello of Procter & Gamble fame once famously explained, “A brand image signifies a relationship with the customer.  It is the company’s most valuable asset.  It’s also the main differentiator, the best defense against price competition and the key to customer loyalty.  Competitors can copy your features and benefits, but they can’t steal your image.”

That said, giving a face to a small business is infinitely easier than creating a “face” for a corporation, because the business is, well, small enough to have a face built in, usually the owner's face.  The salespeople's faces.  And, the personal relationship is, more often than not, is actually personal – directly between people.  So branding techniques are ... well, simpler.  Take a shower.  Dress for work. Open your shop for business. Smile and make your customers happy.  Annnnnnnnnnd: Congratulations.  Your branding is done.

Okay, not quite. You also have to know who your prospective customers are. You have to design your store (and your signage) to appeal to them, and they have to see your appeal from across the street.

You have to pick a location where your customers would likely be and would like to be. You have to make your shop their home.  That’s all a part of your brand.  And you have to give your current customers the best product or service possible to build up the most powerful, long lasting brand advertising possible – Word of Mouth.

Then there’s that other advertising – the kind outside your store.  That's something you need to think about.  You have to be consistent and reinforce the image of your store, yourself and thereby your "brand" in everything you do. However, with the advent of social marketing, your advertising just got a whole lot cheaper.  With a web page, email, Twitter, Facebook and a blog, you can give directions, post hours, gain fans, thank old customers, entice new customers, post online coupons, showcase new products and services and reinforce your brand. And update it whenever you want.

All in all, a pretty hard working advertising medium that's worth all the work you put into it.