title

by John Follis, President/CD, Follis Inc./ NY



excite v. 1 a: to call to activity b: to rouse to feeling 2 a: ENERGIZE b: to produce a magnetic field in 3: to increase the activity of 4: to raise to a higher energy level syn see PROVOKE


Exciting your audience is what advertising is about. Informing them is not enough. No one is bored into buying a product. Some clients act as though their potential customer is LOOKING for their ad and can't wait to read every word. Those clients don't stay in business long. When your audience is being bombarded with hundreds of ads a day you've got to be bold. I'd go as far as telling a client that if his ad campaign doesn't make him feel at least a little nervous -- because it's so bold -- then it's probably not that impactful.

Of course, "exciting" advertising is only part of the mix. A good product also helps. So does an enlightened client who understands and values the difference between an experienced "marketing partner" and a vendor. The following cases show what happens when a great product, a great client, and a great, exciting ad campaign all come together.

"Let me get this right. You want my TV spot to start with my competitor's tagline?"


That was the president's response when I presented the creative. And I couldn't blame him. But I also knew that the idea I was presenting made all the sense in the world. I just had to articulate why. So, let me take a couple steps back and give you the brief background.

I hadn't even heard of Sorrell Ridge Fruit Spreads when we first got the invitation to pitch the account. The company manufactured "all natural spreadable fruit" that had been selling in health food stores. Now, the small unknown brand was ready to battle the big guys on the grocery shelves of America. The main competitor and undisputed leader in the jam category was Smucker's Preserves. Smucker's had a 30-year history with strong, positive brand awareness. Their tagline, "With a name like Smucker's it has to be good", was one of the most famous and beloved in advertising history. What's more, their ad budget was about 20 times that of tiny Sorrell Ridge. The more I thought about our task, the more I cringed. To say we needed a kick-ass campaign was an understatement. But Smucker's had a vulnerability. Their preserves were made with mostly high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar and just some fruit. Sorrell Ridge was 100% fruit. It was a big competitive difference. Now back to my meeting...

"You want my commercial to start with my competitor's tagline?"

"The idea here isn't to promote Smucker's tagline, it's to dismantle it," I replied. With that the president's eyebrows raised. I quickly began walking him through the simple :30 spot which opened with the Smucker's tagline filling the screen.

With a name like
Smucker's
it has to be good.


The announcer began: "For 30 years Smucker's has been telling us they have to be good. But in fact, Smucker's Preserves is mostly corn syrup, refined sugar, and only some fruit." At the mention of each questionable ingredient a pair of hands popped up from the bottom of the screen and patched over the words "it has to be good" with a succession of modifications starting with "it's probably good", to "it might be good" and finally, "is it really so good?" We then cut to the Sorrell Ridge jar with the explanation that "Sorrell Ridge is 100% fruit." The final stake in the heart was our tagline which played directly off Smucker's: "Sorrell Ridge. With 100% fruit, it has to be better."

After getting over the initial shock of spending several hundred thousand dollars to feature his competitor's tagline, the Sorrell Ridge president actually began getting excited. He understood the method to our madness. But there were major legal concerns. Could we even do it? After some nail-biting delays and a few minor copy changes the lawyers finally gave us the green light. Still, they warned, there was no guarantee that Smucker's wouldn't sue. To the president's credit he ran the spot anyway as we held our collective breath. We didn't have to hold it long. Sales jumped immediately and within a month were up 90%. Wisely, our thrilled client immediately doubled his media spending scraping together every dime he could muster. When the dust settled, Sorrell Ridge ended up with a 50% annual increase nationally while annual sales for the entire jams category increased only 3.5%. Clearly, the campaign had excited more than us. In addition, The Harvard Business Review wrote it up it as a case study and Forbes wrote it up as a feature. (See:Forbes article) In addition, my partner and I got covered in half a dozen trade magazines and appeared live on CNBC. And despite our legal fears Smucker's never did take action. The key point to all this is that the Sorrell Ridge president knew he needed a big bang for his buck and was smart enough to realize that he'd be taking a bigger risk doing something safe and boring, than doing something unexpected and exciting.



Another "exciting" campaign actually got people picketing in the streets. It was a campaign for an off-price fashion retailer called Daffy's. The ad that caused the ruckus stated simply, "If you're paying over a hundred dollars for a dress shirt, may we suggest a jacket to go with it?" The visual was a straight jacket. Great ad, right? Well The Alliance for the Mentally Ill didn't think so. "Straight jackets and mental illness are nothing to joke about," they exclaimed. They demanded that we pull the ads. Now, I'd be the last to make fun of mental illness, or any illness for that matter, but it was hard to heed a group who also had a problem with the Almond Joy / Mounds campaign that sang, "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't." When we respectfully disagreed with their demand the issue heated up. They brought the ad to the attention of the American Association of Advertising Agencies as well as to the outdoor media companies who were posting the ads. Daffy's also began receiving anonymous threatening phone calls and the story became a featured article in The New York Times.

As always, the general public is the ultimate judge of any ad campaign. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority loved the ad and the sales results proved it. Yet, The Alliance was relentless. When my partners and I went to an awards show at the ritzy Sheraton Hotel to accept for Best Outdoor Advertising, The Alliance was waiting for us. Picketers crowding the entrance held signs reading; "Straight jackets are NOT funny!" Eventually, our client acquiesced, but not before they'd gotten a helluva lot more mileage -- and sales -- than they'd ever dreamed of. (See:Campaign)

Obviously, it doesn't take picketing mobs or legal threats to prove you've got an exciting, effective campaign. The intention is certainly never to offend or be in poor taste. A client must simply realize that their ad campaign's purpose is to reach as many of their potential customers as possible. So, unless it's utterly boring, they must expect to offend someone. Therefore, rather than ask "Are we offending anyone?" the important question is, "Are we getting anyone excited?"


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(For more specific marketing help, go to http://follisinc.com/therapy.htm)


(c) 2000 Follis Advertising, Inc. All rights reserved.


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