No Farce

At first glance, I thought this column was a farce (The Makeover Maven, DIRECT, Sept. 15).

I saw an eye-catching ad subject to a makeover that would not attract attention. I recall an article put out by TBWA (I think) doing the same thing to an ad, but it was a joke.

To illustrate the effectiveness of their original VW campaign they took the final version – tons of white space, Bug in the middle, small amounts of copy, an ad that’s seen as one of the greatest of all time by most agencies – and subject it to the same reasoning that you have given to the DigitalWork ad. In brief, they took an ad that had drawn a huge market in the VW product line and destroyed it, based on applied “marketing knowledge.” Make the logo bigger, explain everything in the copy, make sure that a nice happy family was seen driving the car in America. In essence they left nothing to entice the reader.

True, this format may have applied to the atomic-family father reading through his national magazine, word by laborious word, making sure to cover every aspect of every ad. Even then, 30 years ago, you would be hard-pressed to find anybody with enough time to spend skimming the ad you have proposed.

Wake up and come to terms with the present. This is the digital age, things are moving faster than ever before and, if you haven’t forgotten, you are lucky to have someone spend more than two seconds on your ad. Consumers must be enticed by something complex, something they have to think about, something they have an emotional attachment to. Your ad would never do that, not even in the most staunch and conservative business magazine on the planet.

I do agree that the headline needs more work, but as is, it requires thought and a second reading, something consumers enjoy. No one is going to notice the ad you have proposed.

I hate to sound so negative and bashing, but if you would take the two ads to a focus group, people would choose the original, guaranteed.

Josh Gates Graphic Designer

Tom Collins replies: Thanks for your detailed criticism of my makeover of the DigitalWork ad. I think your strong objection to my makeover is that you’re weighing both ads by the standards of image-building rather than direct response advertising.

The two different kinds of advertising have quite different requirements. Image advertising is devoted to creating or influencing a favorable mental image of – and long-lasting unconscious preference for – one particular brand among a number of readily available similar products. But direct response advertising seeks the greatest possible number of measurable responses and sales per dollar for a unique product or service sold directly to the user. This requires getting true prospects to be attracted to and respond to the ad by immediately making it crystal clear who the ad is intended for and what benefits it offers.

Non-prospects may be bored by the ad and flip past it, as most would undoubtedly do with my makeover. True prospects will want to read more about how they can be helped and why they should respond.

In the automobile ad you mentioned (I presume you are thinking of Bill Bernbach’s famous “Think Small” Volkswagen ad) the ad did a great job of taking Nazi Germany’s funny-looking People’s Car and making the American car-buying public think of it as the ultimate in understated chic. But if Volkswagen hadn’t had any dealers at the time and had needed to sell it direct, like Dell Computer, I don’t think that ad would have sold many cars.

When Rapp & Collins was acquired by DDB Needham, Bill Bernbach was serving as a director of the Municipal Art Society, devoted to saving New York City landmarks like Grand Central Station. The society decided to do some fundraising direct mail, and Bill Bernbach did me the honor of calling me in and asking me to write it, explaining that “We know nothing about this sort of thing.”

Of course one could argue “That was then and this is now.” But if it’s true that things are moving too fast in this Digital Age for people to read very much, why is it that the 1.2 billion Web pages out there are filled with…trillions and trillions of words? Why do successful direct mail magalogs of today have 10 or 20 times as much copy as successful mailings of a generation ago?

Except in the rarest of cases of extraordinary wit, I strongly disagree that headlines should require, and consumers enjoy, “thought and a second reading” in order to be understood. Billions of advertising dollars are wasted on this fallacy.

By the way, I have given the DigitalWork headline, “Only the Bus Comes for Those Who Wait,” a second reading – and a third, and a fourth. And I still don’t understand it.

We Love Trash Just wanted to thank you for mentioning us (Pushing the Envelope, DIRECT, Sept. 1). We chuckled about it for days around here. I was on a plane when I spotted the column. We have many discussions about the appropriate use of models, so it piqued my interest. When I got back to the office, everyone was talking about it. The model, who does enjoy tumbling her garbage, is Donna Bedwell, one of our buyers.

Jean O. Giesmann Vice President Creative Services Plow & Hearth Inc. Madison, VA

Beth Negus’ comments about Victoria’s Secret in her Sept. 1 column were neat.

One of the most beautiful models I’ve ever seen was featured in an ad from AZ Marketing Services Inc.: a catalog cover with a beautiful model with a super come-hither look! The title below the photo was, “She’s your ideal reader for publishing offers.”

On the reverse side of the card the copy described Victoria’s Secret’s buyers and database: “We are working on an educational toy system geared for mothers and grandmothers to buy for the kids.

“Buyer profile of Victoria’s Secret: 4.9 million last-12-month buyers, 83% female/12% male; average order $95; average age 25-45; average income $45,000/year.”

I’ve never seen a Victoria’s Secret catalog, but its buyers are interesting!

I guess they may not be interested in kids’ toys but if they want to look at and identify with the models, then I suspect children and grandchildren could be on the way later!

Great column, Beth!

Bill Maertens Principal Partner Groupe Wolf.com Jasper, AR