What have we here this month? It looks like another ad produced by a committee. (That way I won’t hurt any individual’s feelings by pointing a finger at one person.)
A nice big display of the brand name. A cute graphic of baby shoes that no one can resist. Some short, snappy copy boiling HealthNow’s print-on-demand case history down to 28 words — nobody wants to read all that long stuff (except readers of long business articles in Business Week and The Wall Street Journal, who happen to be the prospects).
Then in tiny type at the bottom, the Web site address for learning more and a phone number for calling a sales rep.
That’s it. Who says advertising is hard?
This ad is part of a series. Each presents a drastically condensed case history of successful use of Xerox technology, illustrated with a graphically relevant object laid atop the oversized logo. The other ad I saw was for another healthcare client, with a stethoscope laid across the logo. “Blue Cross and Blue Shield wanted to improve member relations. Xerox created an online solution to personalize enrollment kits in no time.”
I suspect ad agencies love doing a series, especially of ads with very little copy like these, because once they get the big idea and sell it to the client, they can crank out endless variations with very little work.
Now it could be argued, of course (though not by me), that if you’re not a healthcare company, you don’t want to read a lot about how a healthcare company dealt with an important problem. But that’s what stories about companies in business books and magazines are all about. You can learn from others even if their situations are not identical to your own.
There’s nothing wrong with the copy in this ad as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough toward presenting the common business problem and attracting and involving prospects.
And while the graphic of baby shoes is cute, its relevance is a stretch. New parents need healthcare? Healthcare rules keep changing the way kids do?
In this new Internet age, companies like Xerox are being presented with a golden opportunity to start a dialogue with their best prospects — and they’re muffing it.
They go to all the trouble of setting up what in many cases is a terrific Web site, a doorway to a profitable relationship with a lasting new customer — and then they virtually keep it a secret.
It’s not enough just to flash the Internet address in a television commercial or sign off with it at the bottom of a print ad. You’ve got to attract prospects and give them solid reasons for logging on.
And as I have demonstrated in previous columns, for me the answer is to give them part of the story and the sales argument in the ad so they will want more — then make a strong promise of why a visit to the advertiser’s Web site will be rewarding.
In my makeover, I start out by headlining the common problem and Xerox’s promise of a solution waiting on its Web site.
Then the copy block that follows spells out that promise. You enter some info about your company’s document output, press a button, and get back a detailed report summarizing exactly how and where you can start cutting costs using Xerox technology.
This carries advertising into a new dimension, especially for big-ticket left-brain advertisers.
No longer is it a question of advertising at the public and hoping some prospects will pay attention. Now you can say to your prospective customers, “Tell me what your problems are and we’ll instantly tell you exactly how we can help.” But that means you’ve got to say it.
Then my makeover delivers on the promise of savings on document output with a far more detailed case history of HealthNow’s use of Xerox.
Let me remind you again that from my point of view all this detail is not very interesting to the general reader but can be intensely interesting to the right person. For instance, such details as the fact that prior to the company’s adopting its Xerox system, seven full-time HealthNow employees were required to handpick new-member information and stuff various pages into 10-inch-by-12-inch envelopes.
Another important fact left out of Xerox’s ad is that HealthNow customer satisfaction has increased fourfold. This is as important as the dollar savings.
And let’s not forget the power and value of endorsement by HealthNow CEO Thomas P. Hartnett: “We consider Xerox more of a strategic partner than a corporation that sells equipment.” Isn’t that worth finding room for in the ad?
Now there are much stronger reasons to respond to the invitation at the bottom: “To schedule an on-site consultation, call 1-800-ASK-XEROX, ext. LEARN.” (And by the way, doesn’t that sound more appealing than: “For a sales rep, call…”?)
Which brings me to one of my pet peeves, the misuse and overuse of phone numbers with alphabetical instead of numerical digits.
This was a great idea when some unknown inventor thought of a way to help people remember spoken phone numbers in radio and television advertising.
But if you have ever tried to dial a number this way, as I am sure you have, you know that it’s much harder than dialing numbers. Let’s see now …D is 3…but F is also 3…
I argue that when there is no need to use a mnemonic rendition of your number, as in print advertising when readers can have the number right in front of them when they dial, don’t do it — give folks the real numbers instead.
In my makeover, I have grudgingly rendered the phone number their way. But I’m agin it just the same.
And to make the Xerox ad committee happy, I’ve tacked on its slogan at the bottom: “There’s a new way to look at it.” Bet it took a lot of person-hours to create that.
THOMAS L. COLLINS was co-founder and first creative director of Rapp & Collins and is co-author with Stan Rapp of four books on marketing. He is currently an independent marketing consultant and copywriter based in Manhattan.
If you see a direct response ad that you think is crying out for a makeover, clip it out and send it (unfolded, if possible) to me at 250 E. 40th St., #40B, New York, NY 10016. To e-mail comments and opinions: [email protected].
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