Kevin Harrington // marketing // blog

How on earth would you advertise your services if you were offering circumcisions? This is a synopsis of a Facebook conversation. 

POST: Circumcision leaflets through your door as junk mail, welcome to London, E1. 

POST: Are they advertising that they come at a snip of the price! 

POST: 20% off if you buy before the end of June. 

POST: Don’t even joke – there is one of those little clip-art stars in the corner with the caption “Bookings being taken for this summer”. Seriously, who decides to be circumcised because of a leaflet through your door? 

POST: They have to advertise via leaflets as getting product placement on daytime TV is a little tricky. 

POST: It would probably do very well after the money saving section on GMTV! 

Well, it all made me wonder. What other obscure services do you think are difficult to market?

Volvo, at the recommendation of their agency Mindshare, have started a campaign to annoy potential customers right across Europe. Well done.

I say this based on my experience. The essence of the campaign is a Quick Response (QR) mechanism. This uses a 2D barcode on print advertising.

The Swedish car maker’s Ice White campaign has been built around the theme “open up and come alive”, and uses the print ads to provide readers with instant access to additional web content on their mobile. >>> more

My experience of Volvo QR: text the number on the page, download a reader, do it again as it didn’t run, do it yet again as it didn’t run, then get told my phone ( a 12 month old BlackBerry…hardly a Nokia 3310!) was not compatible.

So I have no idea what I would have been told if Volvo had been using technology that was accessible from my phone. Perhaps when they do an agency review I may find out.

I remember Punk, that is the Punk music of 1976. I was living in London and witnessed dollops of it first hand. Consequently I smiled at this article on FT.com:

Johnny Rotten boosts Dairy Crest sales

Dairy Crest said using John Lydon, the frontman of punk band the Sex Pistols, in Country Life adverts had helped to boost annual sales of the butter by more than a quarter.

The TV advertising campaign, which first aired in October and features the one-time anarchist also known as Johnny Rotten, has had a “very positive impact on sales”, said Mark Allen, chief executive.

So the next time someone tells you their finite views and how they will never change…just think Johnny Rotten. Time can change most things.

If you have any interest in the history of radio advertising in the UK, I would recommend the Brian Hayes presented programme titled “Radio Sales.” You can catch it on BBC iPlayer for the next few days.

My favourite ad was the one for the Imperial War Museum. An excellent example of the medium being used to it’s best.

For bad advertising listen to the last example at the end of the programme.

This is a nice use of lorry advertising. The McVities lorry has a warning on the back:

No cake left in lorry overnight.

Well I guess this is normal, but it is a nice allusion to the desirability and value of McVities Ginger Cake.

Here is an extract from an article:

Yet we all feel like advertisers are lying to us. The slogans, promises, and taglines of large corporate entities lack any meaning or authenticity whatsoever. We are used to products not working as advertised, or even not looking like what’s on the box.

Read the full article at Precision Change.

Just as the world has got used to the visual eyesore of wheelie bins (well most people…see this article in The Independent) and there are people drawing our attention to them again.

I noticed a ‘Choose to Slow Down’ campaign was being delivered on stickers applied to wheelie bins in Yateley, Hampshire. It made me wonder how long it will be before councils and/or residents are selling the media space as an alternative form of ambient media.

A quick Google search showed me that the use of wheelie bins as media is not new or restricted to Yateley:

• Here is a press release from 2005 from Australia.
• Staffordshire news about a wheelie bin campaign.
• And there are loads more references.

As a media opportunity it is only for 1/7th of the week though…well in most areas.